Hasbro sues Atari over D & D IP

Posted by Dan on December 29, 2009

It almost rhymes, doesn’t it? Just before Christmas, Hasbro sued Atari over the licensing rights for video games based on the Dungeons and Dragons IP (owned by Wizards of the Coast, a Hasbro subsidiary). According to Wizards, they’ve been negotiating with Hasbro for months to no avail. Hasbro filed the complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Rhode Island district, prompting this response from Atari:

“Hasbro has resorted to these meritless allegations, in an apparent attempt to unfairly take back rights granted to Atari [...] Atari has sought to resolve the matter without cooperation from Hasbro. We regret that our longtime partner has decided to pursue this action.”

Atari denies the allegations (though to date they have not filed a response or a MTD on the case, it’s far too early for that). Hasbro is seeking both pecuniary damages and an injunction ending the licensing agreement.

I think this is the start of a long and bitter battle over a very very valuable IP. They’ve apparently been negotiating for months before the suit, and the wording and timing don’t appear to be that of getting a complaint in the door before a statute of limitations — it legitimately appears like a rancorous disagreement between the parties, meaning it’s distinctly possible this one will achieve some level of litigation before settlement becomes likely (if settlement even happens; Atari is being unusually vocal in asserting that the claims are meritless). The timing, just before Christmas, is also a slap in the face, especially as a potential blow to holiday financials….the whole thing just comes off as very spiteful. We’ll keep track of this dispute as it progresses.

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