I get the impression that Randy Pitchford is the kind of guy who thinks he's smarter than everyone else. Not only because of this debacle, but also the way Gearbox almost hired an artist to do Borderlands posters, but then suddenly stopped communicating with him and a few months later, released their own posters in a complete ripoff of the guy's style. All of this sneaky bs just begins to paint a picture of Pitchford's lack of ethics.
Big tactical mistake by Gearbox to try and sling mud at Sega, but just the latest in a series of mistakes. Gearbox decides to crap all over one of the most beloved sci-fi properties. Then they decide to try and crap all over Sega, who although they have been maligned at times, is still one of the world's most beloved developers and publishers. Gearbox has one successful IP of good quality, Borderlands, and otherwise has a track record of crud. I think Pitchford thought he could screw over Sega and get away with it because he overestimated his own cleverness on the basis of one hit. Thinking he was bigger than two industry legends in film and games.