Rebirth of America, this is my era

Chapter 75 The End
Perhaps because the leadership of Milova wanted to prove themselves too much, Sidley Austin's lawyer appeared in front of Ethan again early the next morning. They told Ethan that Milova's representatives would arrive in San Francisco tomorrow morning and wanted to start negotiations at ten o'clock.

Ethan readily agreed, and then passed the message to both parties.

On one side was Professor Barbara Babcock. As Ethan's attorney, she needed to go to the scene to participate in the negotiations and help review the contract. Ethan was extremely polite to this helpful wizard. On the other side was Atari. When facing them, Ethan's attitude was very bad. The content of his message could be summed up in two words - send money!
Faced with Ethan's crude threat, Nolan Bushnell and Don Valentine were very annoyed, but in order to sell the company smoothly and not let their hard work go to waste, they still came with two documents at 10:00 noon.

One is an early termination agreement regarding "Snake Game", and the other is a statement of infringement liability.

The former is generally nothing special. The only thing that can attract people's attention is the sales of "Snake Game". After Atari's revision, their sales in the Midwest of the United States increased from less than 3.5 million to just over 8 million.

At this point, the total sales of "Snake Game" in North America have exceeded 15 million.

The dividends that Ethan Jones and Evelyn Johnson could receive also soared from 1.3 million to 2.2 million.

The latter stated that it was because of Atari's own negligence that it infringed on Milova's patent, and they would bear all the compensation for this.

Of course, there is also an upper limit of one million and five hundred thousand.

Barbara reviewed the contract and confirmed that there were no problems, so Ethan and Evelyn signed it. At three o'clock that afternoon, when Ethan went to Wells Fargo to check his account, he found that there was an additional 1.1 million in his personal account, which was updated in real time.

This number made him laugh and shake his head, "The IRS is still awesome!"

"As soon as we mentioned reporting tax evasion, Atari fell to its knees!"

"Did you cheat us out of a million?"

"It seems that they didn't intend to pay for the compensation themselves from the beginning!"

Yes, when Atari made up the difference between the Midwest and the Central regions, Ethan Jones discovered a problem.

The amount of money Atari embezzled seems to be equivalent to the amount claimed by Milova.

If it weren't for the previous incidents, Ethan would have thought it was just a coincidence, but now...

HE…TUI!

After receiving the money, Ethan straightened his back a lot, and the negotiation with Milohua the next day was conducted with a smile.

At first, the representatives of Milova wanted to make some fuss about the sales ban agreement and come up with a one-year period similar to Atari's, but after Ethan slapped Atari's infringement liability statement in front of them, the representatives of Milova immediately stopped talking nonsense.

"Mr. Jones, since Atari will bear the compensation, should we just set the amount at two million?"

The representatives of Mirohua showed greed.

"It's too much. It doesn't make sense. I think one million and two hundred thousand is enough." Ethan shook his head.

The representative of Milohua continued to argue, "I can't explain this number to the general manager, so, 1.8 million?"

"I know what you're thinking. You just want to take Atari's money, so I'll give you a little more, 1.3 million."

Ethan was very generous.

However, the next second, the representative of Milova shouted again: "Mr. Jones! Don't you hate Atari?"

How could Ethan tolerate this?

"The maximum compensation agreed upon by Atari and I is 1.5 million, and I'll give it all to you. But I have one request. After we reach a settlement, when you buy the press release, you must put all the responsibility on Atari. Is that okay?"

"you sure?"

"Sure!"

"Sign the contract!"

"Sign the contract!"

The scuffle left the lawyers from Sidley Austin stunned.

They have been in this business for so many years, but have never seen an infringer voluntarily pay compensation.

And it looks like the compensation will still be paid by Atari?
What's happening here?
They couldn't figure it out.

Although Professor Barbara was a little better than them, it was not much. After the incident was over, when Ethan sent her home, she curiously asked on the way: "Ethan, did you sign a compensation contract with Milova directly according to the agreed upper limit? Aren't you afraid that Atari can't afford it?"

"Why would you be afraid?" Ethan said with a smile, "I just want Atari to spit out all the money it made."

"Snake Game's North American revenue is now $15 million. Based on a 30% profit margin, Atari should have earned $4.5 million from this project. Evelyn and I got $2.6 million from this project, which means that after deducting the share, Atari still has $1.9 million left."

"Even if they bear 1.5 million in compensation, they still have 400,000 in profits."

"Although this amount of money cannot offset the subsequent claims of Milova, at the same time, Atari has also tampered with the accounts."

"They must have hidden some money, so they can definitely afford to pay for it."

"Since everyone has already torn their faces apart, why should I help them keep that income?"

"I admit that I don't like Miluohua, but there is nothing wrong with their rights protection behavior. They act in accordance with the law, and I obey them."

"In this case, I would rather Milova get the money than let Atari hold the profits."

"Because Atari, gross."

Barbara shook her head repeatedly after hearing Ethan's words.

When she pursed her lips and sighed that Ethan, the young man, didn't seem as kind as she imagined, Ethan, who was driving, asked her another question, "Teacher Barbara, do we have another matter to resolve?" "What is it?"

“Your attorney’s fees.”

When the word "attorney's fees" appeared, Barbara was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said, "I also have a problem with this matter, so I will pay the minimum standard and file a case with the Bar Association. As long as they don't cause trouble for me, it's fine."

There are minimum fee standards for practicing lawyers in the United States, and the association does not allow them to charge arbitrarily.

But in the end, how much to charge is still decided by the lawyer himself.

For example, if Barbara Babcock followed the market trend, her hourly consulting fee would be sky-high, and even the middle class can’t afford it these days. She charges the lowest price because she doesn’t take orders from outside at all, and only relies on acquaintances to help her and maintain relationships.

This is how the above amount was set when the agency agreement was signed previously.

But if she doesn't accept it, there's no way Ethan Jones won't give it to her, right?

After sending Barbara home, Ethan Jones also asked through the car window: "Teacher Barbara, when will your case collection be available?"

"At the end of the year, what's going on?"

"I want to buy a thousand copies and donate them along with other books to some colleges and municipal libraries in the west. Although I don't understand the law, I think the case collection you wrote will definitely have educational and exemplary significance and will bring enlightenment to the public."

This suggestion made Barbara stare at Ethan for a long time, and finally she smiled, "Oh Ethan, I like your gift."

"Since you want to donate books, I won't be polite with you."

"I'll tell you when the book comes out."

"Okay, Teacher Barbara, I'll wait for your news." Her smile made Ethan give her a thumbs up, and then waved.

Then he stepped on the accelerator and sped back to his aunt's house.

He put the settlement agreement in front of Thomas and Linda and said loudly: "Thomas, Linda, the matter has been resolved~"

He wants to reassure the elderly who care about him.

Then I picked up the phone at home and contacted the friend who had asked me about this matter and comforted me before:
"Hey Frank...it's settled...really~ Can't you hear it from my words? I'm happy now~"

"Oh Chuck...thank you, thank you for your concern...it's all a misunderstanding...yes, yes, yes..."

"Hi Steve...thank you so much for your help...yes! You helped me out!"

He wants to reassure his friends who are helping him.

After reporting his safety and saying thank you, Ethan felt relaxed all over.

That night, he had a big appetite and ate two chickens.

…………

Mi Luohua was actually very efficient. He reached a settlement with Ethan on the morning of September 22. On the morning of September 24, while eating breakfast at home and watching TV, Ethan heard the following news:

"According to the information obtained by our reporter, on September 1975, 9, Milova and Atari signed a settlement agreement again. The two parties reached a consensus on the infringement of Snake Game. The infringement incident may have been caused by Atari, and the amount of compensation involved may have exceeded two million. At the same time, after the infringement was confirmed, the two inventors of Snake Game also terminated their cooperation with Atari. Since all three parties are unwilling to be interviewed, we do not know the specific details of this matter, but even so, we still want to ask Nolan Bushnell here, why did Atari infringe so many times in a short period of time?"

"Does Atari have to infringe on copyright again and again in order to grow and become stronger?"

"Can Atari only make a profit by walking on the edge of the law and plundering other people's wealth?"

"If that's the case, let's advise Nolan Bushnell to deregister the company as soon as possible!"

"Although the United States is a country that advocates liberalism and California also has a comfortable atmosphere of freedom, this cannot be an excuse for Nolan Bushnell to disregard the law again and again!"

"If he leads Atari to continue to trample on the law, then what he will eventually gain is bound to be severe punishment from the law!"

The report made Ethan look up with a smile.

Such a targeted diss, it's obvious at first glance that Mi Luohua bought the press release himself.

If nothing unexpected happens, this is still Atari's compensation?
Ethan became even happier when he thought that Atari would be very angry after seeing the news that was paid for with its own compensation.

There's nothing he can do about it, he's just a vulgar man and he just likes this kind of revenge.

And when the time came to September 28th, another shocking news spread throughout the United States -

According to ABC, Warner Bros. will acquire Atari for $15 million. After the acquisition, Warner Bros. will become the sole shareholder of Atari, and Nolan Bushnell will continue to serve as the company's CEO.

This fact made Ethan, who was sitting on the sofa, stretch himself.

The decline in Atari's valuation was the best gift for him.

The comfortable feeling brought by the soft sofa also made him squint his eyes——

"It's finally over." He said with a smile.

"Then what happens next..."

"It's my turn to roll you to death!"

(Volume 1: The Origin of Everything by Atari)

(End of this chapter)