TSR TSR (2) Confirms TSR (3)'s Acquisition of Trademark (Updated!)

Jayson Elliot registered the TSR trademark back in 2011 and used it to launch Gygax Magazine along with Ernie and Luke Gygax. The two Gygax's left the company a few years later after Gary Gygax's (co-founder of TSR (1) back in the 1970s) widow, Gail Gygax, forced the closure of Gygax Magazine. Then, earlier this year, TSR (3) swooped in on the TSR trademark, after Jayson Elliot accidentally let it lapse, as TSR (2) confirms:

We have owned the TSR trademark since 2011. Last year, we missed a filing date, and another company registered it, though we are still using it in commerce. While we could win a lawsuit, we frankly don't have the money to litigate. So, we're licensing it back from them.

As a result, there are two companies now using the name TSR. You can tell when it's us because we're the only ones using the new logo.

They're opening a museum in Lake Geneva at the old TSR house, and we wish them success with it, it's important to celebrate the legacy that Gary Gygax created.

Ernie Gygax, formerly of TSR (1) under Gary Gygax, then working with Jayson Elliot as part of TSR (2), is one of the founders of of TSR (3), and confirmed in his (now infamous) interview --

The other TSR is a licensee because [Jayson Elliot] let it lapse. But he had absolutely ... love for the game and the products. There was no reason to say 'oh you've screwed up, oh it's all ours, ha ha ha ha!' Instead, Justin [LaNasa] came to him and said ... we love that you're doing Top Secret things, we have a much broader goal for the whole thing. But there's no reason for you to stop or even have any troubles. Justin said, I'll take care of the paperwork, you just give me $10 a year, and you put out all this love for old school gaming that you can. And we appreciate that you were there to try and pick up things, and you produced Gygax Magazine, for in its time that you're also working on a game that you love to play ... because Top Secret was Jayson's love, as a young man.

TSR (2), still run by Jayson Elliot, publishes Top Secret, and is not connected to TSR (3) other than now having to license it’s own name from them. TSR (3) has also registered the trademark to Star Frontiers, a game owned by and still currently sold by D&D-owner WotC.

In other news the GYGAX trademark appears to have lapsed.

UPDATE! TSR (2) has decided NOT to license its own name from TSR (3):

Update to our earlier tweet - we will NOT be licensing anything from the new company claiming rights to the TSR logos. We are not working with them in any fashion.

 

[Faolyn]

That's one problem D&D knows how to solve!

I'm imagining a lich reflecting on their views... "Over the centuries I've realized that true power doesn't come from gold and magic... it comes through systemic change. That's why I'm becoming a kindergarten teacher, to help change the world at an early stage of development..."

That's... far too adorable. I could see it as a webcomic.

 

[Maxperson]

With respect... that's wishful thinking. You may want folks to behave that way, but.... they just don't. And this goes both ways.

My point is that unless there's something to say one way or the other, assuming that it's something outside of the context isn't reasonable. You can't assume either way, so really the only thing you can do is go by what was said, which in the context of that statement, is the game only.

Readers will read into things, unless you give them full context otherwise. They WILL NOT read and think like they are from the planet Vulcan. They WILL NOT assume a strict wall between an author and their work. And that's because...

It's because a lot of people don't bother to look at the context and assume a great deal more than they should.

Writers generally DO NOT keep a strict wall between their own ideas and their work. We are, in fact, told that writers "write what they know" and "put themselves into their work", which denies such dissociation as you want us to assume. If, as an author, you have managed to write a work highly different from your personal morals and ethics, you really need to tell the readers that, because that would be an unusual thing.

He is not a typical author here who is inventing everything or nearly everything for his books. He is well known for coming from a historical simulation background and putting that into his game. And yes, he write what he knew, so he wrote from a historical simulation perspective. You can't write both historical simulation and your personal views simultaneously. Those two view conflict, unless you happened to be a writer from hundreds of years ago.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Its very bad how they are behaving now. And sad. But it is important to give them a way out. They should still have the chance to admit that they are wrong and then we should accept their apologies.
Otherwise, what option is left? You can't undo things. But you can improve yourself now.

 

[Parmandur]

Its very bad how they are behaving now. And sad. But it is important to give them a way out. They should still have the chance to admit that they are wrong and then we should accept their apologies.
Otherwise, what option is left? You can't undo things. But you can improve yourself now.

Well, there is "forgiving" somebody, and there is "doing business" with them, ever. These chuckleheads have lost any potential business from me, at least, no matter if they try to make nice (I give low odds that they will try).

 

[Maxperson]

Its very bad how they are behaving now. And sad. But it is important to give them a way out. They should still have the chance to admit that they are wrong and then we should accept their apologies.
Otherwise, what option is left? You can't undo things. But you can improve yourself now.

I don't think it's up to us to give them a way out. They've dug themselves in very deeply at this point and it's up to them to dig themselves out. Then we can assess the genuineness of their statements and go from there.

 

[Gradine]

Yeah... honestly I'm not sure why so much digital ink is being spilled in this thread over Gygax Sr. He may have expressed some retrograde beliefs in the past, but that's not entirely relevant here.

What we do have Ernie and his TSR buddies doubling and tripling down on transphobia now, not just personally but also as part of the actual brand of both TSR and Giantlands.

We must do everything in our power to ensure that this level of bigotry is no longer acceptable within our communities, and that if this is the attitude they are bringing to the industry, they will fail.

 

[Maxperson]

Well, there is "forgiveness" somebody, and there is "doing business" with them, ever. These chuckleheads have lost any potential business from me, at least, no matter if they try to make nice (I give low odds that they will try).

And I give it high odds that if they do try, it will be out of a realization of how badly they hurt themselves, rather than out of a sincere desire to change.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Well, there is "forgiveness" somebody, and there is "doing business" with them, ever. These chuckleheads have lost any potential business from me, at least, no matter if they try to make nice (I give low odds that they will try).

That is your personal decision and totally ok.
But I for myself can't say, I never used gay as a pejorative. I was young and did not know better.* Now I do. I would never use it that way again.
When I look at those debates, I must think about the saying from the bible:
"who is without sin should throw the first stone..."
So maybe forgiveness is in order if they show regret.

*and stupid. And if I could go back in time, I would kick younger self where it hurts...

 

[UngeheuerLich]

I don't think it's up to us to give them a way out. They've dug themselves in very deeply at this point and it's up to them to dig themselves out. Then we can assess the genuineness of their statements and go from there.

Never said otherwise.

 

[Maxperson]

Never said otherwise.

"Give them a way out" implies action on our part.

When I plan an encounter that involves a monster way out of the league of the players, I make sure that I give them a way out. They may not take it, or they may come out with another way out, but I'm not going to stick them into a potential TPK situation without knowing that there was something they could do.