No, not because the massive fustercluck that was their distribution this year; something much stupider.
"Harmony Gold" may sound like a stripper name, but it's actually a production company - a production company best known for "creating" Robotech in the '80s. We put "creating" in quotes because, as you know, Robotech was pieced together from three unrelated anime series: Super Dimension Fortress Macross (1982), Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross (1984) and Genesis Climber Mospeada (1983).
Another thing you may already know is the history of the Transformers character Jetfire, which is itself deeply intertwined with Macross. And this year at SDCC, Hasbro's "GI Joe and the Transformers" exclusive included a Skystriker jet mocked up to look like Jetfire.
So now Harmony Gold-USA is suing Hasbro, claiming that the set violates their copyrights. It sounds stupid, since the Macross Super Valkyrie toy was used as Jetfire back in G1, but remember that the comics and cartoons never used the Macross design: they both used a modified jet that looked nothing like the toy. So while this lawsuit may seem frivolous, it's not entirely without merit.
Just watch out when the scalpers catch wind of this, and start marking the set as a "rare RECALLED exclusive!" Because there needed to be more demand for this set.
From what I've seen online, the set does include a tech spec for Jetfire which uses the G1 toy artwork which is the Super Valkyrie model. Depending on what rights Hasbro has to reuse that G1 artwork, Harmony Gold may actually have a case for the use of that artwork (even though it's just on a tech spec rather than plastered all over the box), but a quick reading of the court document seems to be more based on it being the toy rather than the artwork. Can't imagine a court would uphold the idea that any swing-wing white jet with a red booster pack is copyright infringement, but stranger things have happened...
I think it's more about using the art on the box than the toy - unless they're claiming Hasbro's rights to the toy design have lapsed.
Either way, I'm glad Rustin got me this set at SDCC: it conspicuously didn't show up today with the other exclusives on Hasbro's website...
No, I think it's a dickish move by the very stupid people at Harmony Gold, who want everyone to have a turn hating them... Macross fans hate them (that's me). Mechwarrior fans hate them... And now it's Transformer fans turn to hate them! So everyone gets a turn hating Harmony Gold! I mean, it's Harmony Gold, where they can't do anything right! *Singing: Haven't I seen you, haven't I seen you, haven't I seen you before... Didn't I see you in another life, and why'd you come back for more!* All hail lord Shoji Kawamori! Long live Macross! Death to Harmony Gold! Robotech fans should Kill themselves for the love of lord Shoji Kawamori!