TSR Now it’s WotC’s Turn: WotC Moves Against TSR3

I guess after you provoke somebody enough, they’ll eventually bite back. The company has begun trademark cancellation procedures against the newest TSR.

TSR3 briefly filed for a court declaration on Dec 7th as to their ownership of the TSR trademarks — with an IndieGoGo campaign to fund it — and then voluntarily dismissed it a couple of days later on Dec 9th.

This filing is dated Dec 6th, the day before TSR3 launched its campaign.

In WotC’s response, they cite fraud as one of the causes of action, alleging that TSR3 misled the trademark office in its original application.

Mike Dunford, on Twitter, breaks down the action.

TSR - TSR3.5 Voluntarily Dismisses Lawsuit

A lawsuit filed by TSR3 against D&D owners Wizards of the Coast a few days ago was voluntarily dismissed. Dismissal without prejudice means that the suit can be filed again. The suit lasted two days from the 7th to the 9th of December. The IndieGoGo fundraiser to fund it is still running...

www.enworld.org

TSR - TSR3.5 Launches IndieGogo Campaign to "Stop" WotC

The latest in the TSR3 saga, which has gone quiet for a while, is a new IndieGoGo campaign launched to "stop Wizards of the Coast". They cite wrongful bullying of TSR, and refusal to answer requests that WotC show TSR "proof of their claims" (although the campaign page doesn't mention what those...

www.enworld.org

 

[Staffan]

Yeah, I'm seeing more and more posts of people saying they are on LaNasa's side because "all corporations are evil". Regardless of what one thinks about corporations, siding with someone like LaNasa just because you don't like corporations sure seems like an unwise thing to do.

I'm pretty far to the left politically, highly skeptical of the way intellectual property laws work, and generally inclined to side with the little guy over a megacorp.

But this? This is the kind of stuff where even I come down on the side of the IP holder. This is not Louis Vuitton suing an artist for making a painting of a person holding a handbag.

 

[Sacrosanct]

I'm certainly no corporate cheerleader, and will agree that many ills can be laid at the collective feet of many corporations. But in this case I take issue with people essentially saying "Hasbro is a big evil corporation, so I side with the bigot grifter."

The latter of which, it should be noted, is also a corporation

 

[Vaalingrade]

The latter of which, it should be noted, is also a corporation

Yeah, that's the ticket. With the LLCs literally being used as chaff to evade responsibility.

Just to make it clear, I'm not on the side of LaNasa, just taking offense to something vaguely nice being said about big companies.

 

[Charlaquin]

I'm certainly no corporate cheerleader, and will agree that many ills can be laid at the collective feet of many corporations. But in this case I take issue with people essentially saying "Hasbro is a big evil corporation, so I side with the bigot grifter."

Which I literally was not saying. Hasbro is a big, evil corporation. They’re also clearly in the right here.

 

[Charlaquin]

I'm pretty far to the left politically, highly skeptical of the way intellectual property laws work, and generally inclined to side with the little guy over a megacorp.

But this? This is the kind of stuff where even I come down on the side of the IP holder. This is not Louis Vuitton suing an artist for making a painting of a person holding a handbag.

Exactly

 

[adamantyr]

Anyone see any response from TSR, on any of their channels as yet? So far all I've seen is the Dungeon Hobby Shop posting laughing emotes on Tenkar's video on the matter.

 

[Sir Brennen]

Anyone see any response from TSR, on any of their channels as yet? So far all I've seen is the Dungeon Hobby Shop posting laughing emotes on Tenkar's video on the matter.

Laughing all the way to the bank . . . ruptcy.

 

[Kurotowa]

Yeah, I'm seeing more and more posts of people saying they are on LaNasa's side because "all corporations are evil". Regardless of what one thinks about corporations, siding with someone like LaNasa just because you don't like corporations sure seems like an unwise thing to do.

It's not the first time for people to fall into the trap of taking "The enemy of my enemy is my friend" as an absolute rule and making some very unwise alliances. A lot of the modern cases are political, so I won't start listing them, but you can find plenty of historical examples. They usually end with one side being exploited for their full value and then disposed of.

As a wise webcomic once said, "The enemy of my enemy is my enemy's enemy. No more, no less."

 

[Azzy]

I'm really amused at the notion that WotC might end up owning a tattoo parlor in North Carolina.

Maybe they'll rename said parlor "Tattoos, Skin, & Rings". "TSR" has a nice ring to it.

 

[Cordwainer Fish]

Anyone see any response from TSR, on any of their channels as yet?

This is the point where any lawyer with a pulse tells their client to shut up.

So, expect to hear a great deal from them very shortly.