Hasbro Suing Atari over D&D License
Hasbro is suing Atari over a violation in the D&D licensing agreement.
Toy maker Hasbro Inc., which has licensed out the Dungeons & Dragons IP to Atari since 2000, is claiming that the latter company may have violated its licensing agreement. Hasbro has now filed a complaint against Atari in the District Court of Rhode Island, seeking damages for economic losses. Hasbro also wants to terminate its licensing agreement with Atari, which in turn may close down the Dungeons & Dragons Online: Eberron MMORPG.
The licensing violation claim stem from Atari's sale of its European business distribution arm to Namco Bandai back in July. According to the Associated Press, Hasbro claims that Atari was misleading in regards to the sale, although no additional details were provided to explain the claim. Wizards of the Coast president Greg Lee said that Atari left them no choice but to take legal action after working with Atari for months on a resolution yielded no results.
Atari, on the other hand, denies any sort of mischief on its part. "Hasbro has resorted to these merit-less allegations, in an apparent attempt to unfairly take back rights granted to Atari," Atari said in the statement. "Atari has sought to resolve the matter without cooperation from Hasbro. We regret that our longtime partner has decided to pursue this action."
Atari added that it will respond appropriately through its legal counsel in court. Wizards of the Coast is the Hasbro subsidiary that actually owns the Dungeons & Dragons IP. Gamers who currently play/subscribe to Dungeons & Dragons Online: Eberron may want to keep a close eye on this bit of drama.

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what latter company? they licensed out the D&D IP to: 1) Atari and ...?
it violated its own licensing agreement and sued itself? cmon Kevin.
I could totally get behind this as an MMO. World of Lawyercraft, it could really be the fabled WoW killer.
Haha I could see it now...
"You cast level 13 DMCA of the Ancients"
"You need to submit more paperwork to raise your mana levels."
"Your attorney's health level is low; transfer more funds!"
I somehow doubt Hasbro is going to terminate the license. This will probably break down into them claiming Atari owes them a cut of their profits from things like DDO(which is free to play anyway).
I am currently enjoying the hell out of the free to play part of the game and was considering becoming a VIP (small fee every month)
I guess it would not be the end of the world but I do enjoy it
The "horde" could be Hackers or Pirates lol
I cast Bittorrent !!!
Hacker uses Spam ability and his army of zombies to send thousands of emails !!!
A Addition lawsuit by Hasbro can only be good, as it sheds light on a company hindering the licensing/promotions of a huge franchise..
I for one would like to see the contract atari has for the D&D universe to be null and void.. and granted to a company who will properly respect its playerbase.
Hasbro - "Sure, board games are dying out and we need the cash"
Atari - "This D&D stuff is pretty cool, we are making shitloads of money"
Hasbro - "Hey, our original agreement looks pretty crap, maybe we should sue"
Atari - "Maybe you should have reinvested years ago into the PC games market instead of hanging onto the past"
Hasbro - "We thought we could just milk you instead"
Or maybe something like that. There's so many legal wranglings, and companies inside of companies that I try not to follow too closely for fear of hurting my head... so I could be completely wrong in my suggestion.
True true there will be new games but lets hope they do not shut down the 1 out of 10 that is actually decent (although Dragon Age was cool too) hmm D&D games seem to be on some sort of streak.
"NEEDS MORE PAPERWORK!"
"YOU REQUIRE MORE CLASS ACTION LAWSUITS!"