IGN reports on potential legal hurdles the recently announced MechWarrior revival from Piranha Games may have to overcome before its release. They have received a cease and desist order from Harmony Gold, co-copyright owner of the television series Robotech, demanding they remove the related MechWarrior teaser movie. IGN contacted Smith and Tinker about this, but received a "no comment" for the moment, and here's their outline of the dispute:

The letter claims that the use of certain trademarked figures from the Robotech/Macross universe are prohibited as a result of a prior settlement that dates back to 1996. While MechWarrior isn't part of the Robotech/Macross universe, the similarities between vehicles has been enough to cause legal issues and raise questions. Apparently, some of those trademarked figures appear in the trailer used by Piranha Games in its announcement of the MechWarrior reboot earlier this year, and a request has been made for that trailer to be pulled from IGN.

This development could put the future of MechWarrior in jeopardy. A trademark dispute could derail the game's development. On the flip side, it could also simply result in specific characters, logos, or other trademarked material from being included in the final product.