OT-but since Hasbro is mentioned (very loosely, I grant you....) a not-so-tongue-in-cheek-explanation-of-the-suit...
KLP
Message 13541033
TOSBT,johnd,Duke,t2 and other MSFT fans: This one puts the whole suit thing in its
proper perspective:
Above: Rich Uncle Pennybags testifies before a Senate subcommittee on April 3.
WASHINGTON, DC--In a landmark antitrust decision, U.S. District Judge
Thomas Nance ruled Monday that
Parker Brothers' controlling interest in the popular board game Monopoly
constitutes an illegal Monopoly
monopoly.
Above: A row of Parker Brothers-owned hotels in Atlantic City.
Found guilty of colluding with Hasbro to corner the Monopoly
market--undermining the production and sale of
similar board games and designing the Monopoly CD-ROM game to "take over"
the user's desktop and keep
other games from being played--Parker Brothers faces fines of $15,140 and up to
three turns in prison.
In his 62-page ruling, Nance wrote: "In light of the evidence presented--namely, the
myriad versions of the
Monopoly board game produced, from the first edition to the high-tech Monopoly
2000, as well as the electronic
hand-held version, CD-ROM, and video-game editions, all of which are produced
or licensed by Parker
Brothers--this court has no alternative but to find that a Monopoly monopoly is in
effect."
Speaking outside his green plastic Atlantic City office building, lead prosecutor
Milton Bradley told reporters:
"These Monopoly monopolists have been allowed to park free for way too long,
and it's high time they went
directly to jail. We're talking about a company so dominant, it has leveraged its
board-game success into a
multi-tentacled goliath with holdings in railroads, real estate, electric utilities, and
water works."
In testimony last Friday, Parker Brothers CEO Rich Uncle Pennybags insisted that
his company has never violated
antitrust laws at any time.
"Quite simply, we are being punished for being too successful," the mustachioed
tycoon told a packed courthouse.
"Monopoly is the world's most popular, best-selling board game, and it has become
so not through any
anti-competitive practices, but simply by being a quality product that people want
to buy. Isn't that the way
capitalism is supposed to work?"
In making its case, the prosecution presented evidence of numerous questionable
activities on the part of Parker
Brothers, including making a series of illegal $200 payoffs to Go-passing
associates, operating a grand-opera
ticket-scalping ring, and engaging in price-gouging, charging $1275 for a
three-minute stay at one of its luxury
hotels on Atlantic City's North Carolina Avenue.
Prosecutors also accused Parker Brothers officials of money-laundering, both in
offshore accounts and so-called
"under the board" money. Parker Brothers attorneys argued that the extra funds
were due to a bank error in the
company's favor, but prosecutors cited tax forms showing that the company opted
to pay a flat income tax, per
Atlantic City law, rather than have 10 percent of its gross worth calculated.
Receipts for a luxurious diamond ring
taxed at $75, presented late in the prosecution phase, proved similarly damaging to
the defense.
Above: The Thimble (center) is mobbed by reporters following his April 5
testimony.
"Clearly, this is not the squeaky-clean company Mr. Pennybags would have you
believe it is," Bradley said. "And
while we're on the subject, what about Pennybags himself? How reputable is he?
This is, after all, the man who, in
1997, attempted to cover up his second-place finish in some sort of bizarre beauty
contest for elderly men."
The guilty verdict comes at a bad time for Parker Brothers, which is already reeling
from plummeting stock, a
shrinking market share, and a recent assessment for street repairs on all its
buildings. Attorneys for the company
attempted to plead insolvency, presenting as evidence numerous face-down title
deeds for holdings, but Nance was
unmoved.
"From the McDonald's Monopoly game to Monopoly slot machines in Las Vegas
to such college-themed games as
Michiganopoly and Notre Dameopoly, Monopoly has so thoroughly dominated its
arena, it can only be regarded
as anti-competitive," Nance wrote in his decision. "No board game should wield
this much clout in a free and open
marketplace."
Business watchers say the verdict was long overdue.
"Pennybags is one of the most predatory and underhanded figures in the history of
the toy-and-game industry,"
Fortune associate editor Craig Black said. "This guy was literally writing his own
rule book. He stabbed everyone
in the back to get the world's most popular board game all to himself, and once he
did, it was like a license to print
his own money."
JFD |
