>>96736252
>On the other hand, GW then could pivot to have a tiny section for stls on their website (useless shit for basing or you know, those "Battlefield Trophies" bits) so that they can "rightfully" claim the same market.

Its actually surprising they did not already do that. I expected their transition of FW towards providing prints and not casts of upgrade parts and maybe even STL files to go a lot quicker.
It will come eventually, and if its only for legal reasons to support their fights against the competition, as you said.

>But then when he wins he gets all of that back and makes bank off the backs of people who already supported him.
But he only gets the full amount back, if he wins in full. Its also possible that it will end up in a draw, or a partial victory/loss.
And to enable him to even do this for some years (which is something that will, no matter how it ends, provides a lot of clarity for other creators and customers too) giving some bucks is not the worst thing to do.
Worst case for everyone involved would be if he has to submit because he cant afford to fight. Because this would encourage GW to go after the next one. And that next one might be a creator whose models i actually like.