17/08/2024
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The Emperor's Dragon
Dragon 43 - Open and Shut
"How much do you know about the rights of villains who are sent to Tartarus?" Shunin asked, instead of explaining.
Mei shook her head. "Nothing," she replied. It wasn't something that concerned her. They were villains too, the worst villains so, they probably didn't have many rights. "Though what do you mean, sent to, aren't they sentenced?"
The lawyer gave her a small smile as if he was impressed that she'd picked up on that phrase. "Eventually sentenced, but the most dangerous villains are sent there upon capture. The villain All Might fought was sent there immediately."
Mei nodded. The media had said something like that but she hadn't paid much attention to it. There'd been way too many other things going on at the time. There still were too many other things going on.
"Now what is pertinent here, is that any possessions they have are catalogued and stored. What is not advertised is that if any of those possessions have a large worth, they are then usually sold or used as the HPSC and Tartarus Foundation see fit."
Shunin paused for her to take it in. Mei nodded, though she wasn't sure what a villain would have that could be useful.
"That includes support items," he continued.
"Oh," Mei said. She'd made the support item used by Izuku's dad. She owned that! It was her work to design and build it.
"I see you understand," Shunin murmured. "In this case, the technician at Tartarus scanned the parts into the Patent Register and found that they were already registered. From there, the tech reported it up the line and it has come to here."
Mei wasn't quite sure what to say. "I own those designs," she told the group. She was a bit annoyed that they were registered in the Patent Register already but if that was keeping them in her ownership, she'd overlook that.
"Because they were on a villain, ownership is disputed," Shunin told her. "Which is where I come in. If they weren't registered in the Patent Register, then we wouldn't be having this conversation but they were, so the HPSC and Tartarus Foundation just can't take those designs without opening themselves up to challenges."
Mei nodded at that. "You are telling me they thought no one owned them?"
"Oh, they knew someone designed the equipment, and therefore had intellectual property rights over that, but they weren't expecting the plans to be registered. Most equipment used by villains is custom made by people who do not want to be identified and therefore not registered, or it's mass produced."
"And the HPSC takes ownership of the custom made stuff?" Mei asked.
"Where it is useful, yes," Shunin told her plainly. "Usually there is nothing useful but sometimes-" he didn't finish because it was clear this case was in the sometimes.
Mei didn't say anything. She didn't know what to do here, and she'd learned at UA when you didn't know what to do, stay quiet so that Power Loader could tell the class.
"The Patent Register indicates that the designs are owned by Mi Enterprises, which the HPSC and Tartarus Foundation found out is a legitimately registered business. I'm told they were quite upset about that," Shunin said with a small smile.
"They expected it to be a shell company," Mei murmured.
"They did," he agreed. "Once they discovered that it wasn't, they initiated a challenge to Mi Enterprises to show due cause."
"For what?" Mei demanded indignantly. Mi Enterprises was her company. That design was hers! Sure it had been used by Izuku's dad, who turned out to be a villain, but that didn't change the fact that she'd laboured long and hard on that design. It was hers!
"They are basically claiming that Mi Enterprises is a fraudulent company, set up by Hisashi to register the design," Janee told her.
"Mi Enterprises is my company, set up to sell my inventions," Mei countered.
Shunin gave her a smile as he made a few notes. He hand wrote them into a tablet. It was kind of old fashioned but Mei realised it probably gave him time to think. "If I am going to argue against the HPSC and the Tartarus Foundation, then I'm going to need details of how Mi Enterprises was set up, who owns it, and more importantly who owns the plans."
"Didn't you say the company did?" Mei asked but she couldn't help but be a little concerned. Mi Enterprises was majority owned by Izuku and… Actually, she didn't think he'd been officially declared a villain yet. That wouldn't make a difference, Mei scolded herself. They'd just declare him a villain and take half the company.
"The Register indicates the company does, but it could still be you," Shunin said. "As one of the owners of Mi Enterprises, you can allow your company to use your intellectual property but, it does carry some risks."
"Such as?"
"If something goes wrong, if you still personally own the design, then you are sued."
"Ah," Mei said. That wasn't a problem in this case and … she did want to get her design used by more people but this wasn't the way she'd have chosen. She'd have to look into ownership and the pros and cons of that. "I don't know exactly how Mi Enterprises was set up, Izuku took care of that," she told the group and noticed how Shunin tensed. "But I can tell you Izuku owns the plans to his father's helmet, but I own the rights to every individual part," she explained.
For a moment there was silence in the boardroom and then Shunin gave her a very sharp look. "You own the rights to the individual parts?" he asked carefully.
"I do," Mei confirmed. "That was part of our deal."
"You can prove it?" the lawyer was still careful with his question.
"That's what we discussed and agreed upon," Mei confirmed,
"No," the lawyer shook his head. He sounded vaguely disappointed. "Can you prove that was the arrangement?" he asked again.
"What counts as proof?" Mei replied.
"Something in writing would be good," Janee gave the answer for Shunin.
"Oh! We texted each other the arrangement," Mei announced to them, "I don't have a letter or anything like that," she added.
The lawyer looked up and stared at her for a few moments before a wide grin crossed his features. "I'll have to see them of course but would you be willing to submit those texts to the court?" he asked.
"They were with Izuku," Mei said. "Will that make a difference given his-" she shrugged.
"Given his current activities?" Janee finished the sentence for her.
"Yes." Mei nodded.
"No, they will not," Shunin said firmly. "Assuming your text messages are clear, and even if there is some ambiguity in them, what we are seeking to show here is that you designed the components that went into that helmet. The fact that you designed it for someone who turned out to be a villain is not the point. It is your work, and you are a law abiding citizen who should not be punished because her creation was… The HPSC will say it was misused but it wasn't. It worked exactly as designed, giving Hisashi greater quality of life," the lawyer finished.
Mei nodded again. "Izuku told me as much too," she confirmed.
He gave her a smile. It was somewhat toothy. "I trust you will be happy to submit the texts as evidence?"
"Of course. Though…" Mei said slowly. "The HPSC already has them," she told them. "I gave them access to my phone as part of their investigation into Izuku and I'm pretty sure they took the entire message history between us." That had been a bit embarrassing. She hadn't realised exactly how… unsupportive of the status quo she'd been but Izuku's arguments made so much sense and there was so much inconsistency in the hero industry.
"They already have them?" Shunin demanded, taking more notes. Mei wondered how he read them. People complained about her note taking but his appeared to be even worse than hers!
"I'm pretty sure they do," Mei confirmed.
"Oh," he said with a smile that seemed oddly content. "This is going to be fun," he announced.
"Why?" Mei demanded.
Shunin took a deep breath. "It is probable that they haven't put two and two together," he said. "The villain investigation department probably hasn't spoken to whoever got this patent job so they probably don't know they have the evidence," he said reasonably. "But that doesn't actually matter in the eyes of the law. The HPSC has the evidence, or at least documentation that suggests you are the rightful owner of those designs and they are withholding it and still progressing the case against Mi Enterprises."
"I see," Mei replied. That made sense and it sounded bad for the HPSC but she was sure they'd just tell the judge exactly what Shunin had said. There probably wouldn't even be much of a punishment for it. "Actually, if their case is against Mi Enterprises, then why am I at JBQC?" she asked.
"Mi Enterprises' registered business address is our headquarters," Janee told her.
"Oh, Izuku must have set it up that way," Mei murmured.
"We are finding out." Janee said, more for Shunin's benefit than hers.
"Please do so," Shunin said as he wrote a few more notes and then closed his notepad. "I think, for the moment, I have enough evidence to muddy the waters," he proclaimed. "Though a copy of your texts would be most appreciated, Miss Hatsume," he added, looking pointedly at her. "I'll send instructions on how to give me a verified copy." Shunin made a face as he said it.
"What is it?" Janee asked.
He sighed. "The Commission probably didn't take a verified copy of Miss Hatsume's phone records. They will have most likely obtained them under goodwill, rather than evidence collection and if they did, then they will not need to report the records. Do you know how the records were taken?"
Mei blushed. She had thought about using privacy as a reason to deny the HPSC access to her phone but in the days after the revelation that Izuku was a villain she had known if she didn't cooperate, she'd have been branded one as well. "Good will," she confirmed. When they'd asked for her phone records, it had seemed like a good way of showing that she didn't know about Izuku's plans, because she didn't, and of proving that she was not in touch with Izuku, because she wasn't. It was an easy way of confirming that she wasn't a villain but… she should have insisted that while she had nothing to hide, she did not owe them her records.
"I will check," Shunin confirmed. "And I think we are done here?" It might have been phrased as a question but Mei knew who was in charge.
"Thank you for coming," Janee said to the lawyer as she rose. The other two scrambled to their feet.
"A pleasure, Janee," Shunin replied. "Miss Hatsume may escort me out," he said.
Mei wasn't sure how that worked. Technically she was an owner of JBQC so she could go unescorted though the building but she wasn't an employee so shouldn't be able to escort the lawyer.
Janee gave the man a sharp look and seemed to accept whatever she saw. She nodded.
"It's a pleasure meeting you, Miss Hatsume," she said. "I look forward to working with you in the future."
Mei wasn't sure about that but she also knew better than to burn bridges. "I will be relying on your experience," she replied. That seemed safe and as Izuku's Dad's Executive Officer then… Janee probably knew more secrets than she let on and she'd probably already been questioned by the HPSC but Mei could tell she'd chosen her side.
Much like she had.
And that was before the Commission was trying to steal her babies! She knew now that the amount of work she'd done for Izuku when they were younger was the equivalent of slave labour. She hadn't known better than and neither had Izuku but even though the work was like that, she'd enjoyed it and Izuku had never attempted to steal it. He'd always paid for it. Well below market rate but… Market rate was whatever the merchant thought they could get away with. She'd learned a lot working with Izuku, and he'd learned a lot and they had gotten better at the pay thing. Besides, she owned JBQC now and that entitled her to research funding and…
Yeah, Izuku had more than made up for short changing her when they were younger.
"Are you ready?" Shunin asked, holding the door.
Mei nodded and walked out of the board room, back into the neat corridor. The lawyer led the way to the lifts and pressed the button. They didn't wait long and he didn't fill the time with small talk. It was only when they were in the lift that Shunin fixed her with a stare and Mei felt a sinking in her stomach that had nothing to do with the lift ride.
"We need to talk."
The words weren't harsh but were said such that it was clear that the lawyer wasn't going to take no for an answer.
"We do," Mei agreed. She had questions for him as well.
He gave her an appraising look and then nodded. "My office or later?" Shunin asked.
"Now is good," Mei told him. She hadn't known how long she would be at JBQC so she'd cleared the afternoon.
The lawyer smiled and nodded and was silent for the remaining trip down the lift. When they got to the ground, he gestured for her to proceed him and then lead her back through security into the foyer and then out the doors. A car was waiting. Shunin held the door for her and Mei got in. Outwardly she was calm, inwardly, Mei wondered what was going on.
Her family wasn't poor, but they did not make the type of money Izuku's dad did… though to be fair, the only time Izuku had flaunted the fact that he had cash was when he was investing in her, and since the money was going to her, she'd never really thought about it… Oh… and he had an apartment for UA, though so did Ochaco, except Izuku never said it was difficult to pay for. He had money, he just didn't show it off blatantly.
Shunin got in on the other side of the car and saw through her nonchalance. He chuckled as the car drove off. "I'm on retainer, remember?" he said. "That just ensures my services. Every minute of those services is paid for," he told her.
"So the car?"
"It's so I may work on the way to and from my office," Shunin said.
"You aren't going to charge me for this time?" Mei demanded,
That startled a laugh from the lawyer. "I asked you for the time to talk, so if anything I should be paying you," he said, amused.
That was an interesting thought.
"However, it doesn't work like that for you," he continued.
"Maybe one day," Mei muttered.
"Oh, most likely."
"What did you want to talk about?"
"At my office," Shunin told her, instead of answering.
Mei nodded. She should have anticipated that. The driver was employed by JBQC and the car was provided by them. They couldn't expect the driver not to report back to his superiors. "Is there any other evidence you would find helpful for this case?" Mei asked instead.
The lawyer was quiet for a moment before he nodded. "If you are brought to court, then if you could appear to be aware of the fact the components were registered in the database, that would be useful. Do not lie, if you are asked directly, I want you to tell the truth, but sometimes impression is far more important, and if you appear to have known about it, then that will go a long way to establishing you as the rightful owner."
Mei bit her lip… "They aren't going to win are they?" she asked. Sure, she hadn't known the components were registered and she should have done that herself but, they'd only just gotten to that in class! And they were her work! She'd poured her heart and soul into those designs.
"I do not make a habit of losing cases," Shunin told her confidently. "Though if I may tender some unsolicited advice?"
"Yes."
"Once the case becomes public, I believe it would be beneficial for you to partner with someone to get the pieces out into the market, and in use. Get them making money for you, because that alone will establish you as the owner of them more than anything else ever would. Plus if they are in the market, you can retain me to sue anyone who infringes upon your copyright," he added.
Mei laughed at that but she could see where he was going. She liked making her babies but it was time to look at their practical application. It was no good if all she did was make them and they did nothing. They needed to go out into the world and prosper! And not so incidentally make her prosper.
She probably wouldn't charge much for these babies since they were meant to help people but in the future others were more likely to be used solely by heroes, and those, she could charge for. That made sense to her. Sell the babies with the widest applications, such as her homework holder, to a wide audience with a smaller profit margin since she'd make up the money with the volume of sales and sell the hero one offs with much higher margins since she had to make the money back there and then.
She wondered if JBQC could help with that and resolved to ask Janee now that she had her contacts.
Mei didn't get a chance to think much more before the car pulled up at a new office building. It was a nice building. Not as plush as JBQC but still showing off that the tenants were not doing badly.
Shunin got out and again opened the door for her. "After you," he said, gesturing to the building.
Mei wondered if this was a mistake but realised it was too late to back out. In for a yen… in for it all. She stepped forward.
It was time to hear what the lawyer had to say.
-ted-
If you recall, way back in Chapter 49 of Fledgling, Izuku and Mei negotiated the cost of the Life Support Helmet. Mei owns the individual components that make up the Helmet, but Izuku owns plans to the Helmet and with Izuku setting up Mi Enterprises, and giving Mei about 100,000 yen, that sealed the deal. And all of those negotiations were conducted via Text. Izuku was 14 at the time and he's about 16.5 now, close to 17, so that means the records would most likely still be on Mei's phone. So Mei can prove her ownership of the components and that it was negotiated in good faith with someone she had no reason to believe was a villain :D (And yes, I have been sitting on some of these plot points for a very long time!)
Shunin will have fun but he wants to check something else in private because he needs to know how well the son of AFO chose his allies.
Discord is on this code: TcBnRN7aDn FFN will remove links but you should be able to figure that out. There's a heap of other authors there, so come along and chat to us all! Not just about MHA.
-ted-
Loved it? Hated it? Found a spelling mistake? Let me know please!
