Viacom denies keeping payments from Harmonix
by Mike Schramm 
on Dec 21st 2010 11:00PM
Viacom has responded to
claims this morning from Harmonix shareholders that the company avoided paying out bonuses to the developers of the
Rock Band series. Viacom of course
denies it dodged any obligations, and says instead that the representative for Harmonix's shareholders, Walter Winshall, was offered agreements that included big payouts for the developer but "spurned" those, hoping for a bigger reward later. That reward never came, says Viacom, and Winchell is allegedly lashing out with this lawsuit for not meeting his shareholders' expectations.
That doesn't quite cover the other allegation in the lawsuit against Viacom, which claims that it
set up an agreement with EA on the
Rock Band brand that benefited its own interests rather than those of Harmonix (by doing things like trading advertising sales on MTV rather than passing on profits to the developers). Proof on that allegation, one way or the other, will have to come out in court -- if this lawsuit goes that far.
