Gamers Rights Law » board games

Games Workshop Sues (Part II)

jaymoffitt — Sun, 09 May 2010 15:49:48 +0000

Well, actually, it’s a new lawsuit. There are numerous internet sites reporting Games Workshop suing Curse (runs Website Warhammer Alliance).

The report from the prolific blog Massively… my favorite quote, “a litany of allegations including cybersquatting, unfair competition, dilution (of the IP), and more”. They link to the complaint here.

Warhammer Alliance response here, or you can find it on their site at Warhammeralliance. More on this after the jump…

As of now, I cannot find an OFFICIAL NOTICE from Games Workshop regarding this complaint. Their policy on their IP rights is publicly available. [Editor's note - if you find an official statement of a Games Workshop representative, please note it in a comment and I will link to it]

Now for links to a couple of other blogs with thoughtful points of view.

A commentary at Game by Night; Going Progaming blog has a point of view.

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Personal commentary: you know I am very loathe to comment upon ongoing lawsuits, especially ones that have not had an official response as yet. (People know where to find me, I’m paid to talk/write). But this one should be especially interesting, as the Web site makes no claim to be purely a fan site, or non-commercial. In fact it admits in their response that ad revenue was expected and needed. The timeline claimed in the response is part of their defense, and as I linked to it above it at least deserves a read. Recapping, I’ll be interested in seeing how a site that claims no defense of non-commercialism will fare in the courts.

Jay Moffitt is a Tennessee attorney. This blog is for entertainment and educational purposes only and does not consitute legal advice or create an attorney/client relationship. Jay Moffitt is not certified as a specialist in this area by Tennessee and Tennessee does not certify specialists in this practice area. All comments will be answered promptly and courteously as long as they are germane to the discussion and do not contain specific game names or incidents.

Hasbro means Christmas

jaymoffitt — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 21:09:00 +0000

(Lawsuit, that is).

Apparently the holiday seasons were an excellent time for Hasbro to sue. This story from Industrygamers says Hasbro ” today (Dec 17) announced its intentions to file a lawsuit against Atari, accusing the game publisher of fraud and five separate licensing agreement breaches of the Dungeons & Dragons brand.”

Here is the text of the lawsuit, from the incomparable Courthouse News.

I would urge my readers to peruse this. 176 counts? really? I enjoyed the fact that it did recount the emails, phone calls, contradictions, and internal friction that preceded the lawsuit. It asks for damages plus an accounting, among other other things.

Here is another take on the lawsuit, from 1UP.

Yet another, very clean synopsis, here at play.tm.

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In a somewhat similar lawsuit, Turbine announced earlier it was suing Atari for damages. Here is another article from Big Download about that lawsuit over the game Dungeons and Dragons.

You can read the full text of the August lawsuit here.

Any comments on either of these suits are welcome. As the details become more fleshed out I will follow this dispute.

Games Workshop Cease-and-Desist

jaymoffitt — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 16:36:37 +0000

Most legal controversies arise from video games; but there are many other enjoyable types of games. I’m one of those who find older games at least as entertaining (and challenging), and sometimes there is enough money (and pride) involved that board games, or their derivatives, make the news with legal issues.

You can read a gamer’s blog assailing Games Workshop and their protection of their rights in their boardgames.

Some of the sites GW complained about, and has had disputes with included Headless Hollow; also Vassal Game Engine.

Other targets are Darkhammer, and also Blood Bowl relaunch

And just a little more; GW shuts down Vassal40K, another in what GW says are derivative, infringing sites.

Many of these sites are non-profit; some of these are strictly fan-run; yet others are unapologetically attempting to make a profit using derivatives or veiled clones of Games Worskhop games. But you should read the sites above (at least those not shut down yet) to see their own personal stories.

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OK, now to the other side. Here is the link to the The C&D letter from theChilling effects Web site (collection of Cease-and-Desist letters). Next, for fairness sake, here is the formal response from Games Workshop.

In a related matter, this is an older story about GW enforcing its rights.

There are many gamers who have played these particular games, or derivatives on the internet, for months and even years. But Games Workshop has several plausible legal reasons for choosing this course of action. One that should be noted is the Doctrine of Laches, explained below by an impartial attorney speaking generally.

According to noted entertainment lawyer Gordon Firemark, “The essence of the Doctrine of Laches is that rights holders must be vigilant in protecting their copyrights, trademarks, patents and other proprietary rights. Ignoring ’small’ or ’minor’ infringements is a risky proposition, because eventually, the infringers (and others) may come to rely on the rights-owner’s forbearance as equivalent to consent. Cases abound in which Courts have enforced the doctrine of laches , viewing such reliance as justified, and depriving the rights owners of meaningful remedies.”(Note: you can read his full interpretations of this issue at Why and How artists MUST take action when their work is infringed).

So make up your own mind about what the outcome of this legal conflict will be. And think about what you think the outcome SHOULD BE. Please comment below if you think the current course of action should continue; or whether GW could or should reach some type of understanding with these Website and individuals. And certainly I welcome any public comments from GW or any of the Website owners affected.