TSR NuTSR Sells Rebound 1E Core Rulebooks For $650 Each

Despite being embroiled in ongoing legal disputes with WotC regarding use of the TSR trademark (amongst other things), NuTSR has posted images of leather-bound compilations of AD&D 1E books they say are rebindings of old material, complete with the disputed logo. They're selling these books for $650 each.

The Deities & Demigods book (middle top in the image) has a typo on the front cover.

TSR - The Full & Glorious History of NuTSR

Because the Saga of TSR3 has been ongoing for a while, with many landmarks, I thought I'd do a quick timeline for those who haven't had the time (or, frankly, inclination) to keep up with the whole palaver. As multiple entities refer to themselves as TSR, I will use the nomenclature (1), (2)...

www.enworld.org

About these books, NuTSR says "Look what just came in. Sorry, we didn't have these in for TSR CON. (in the beginning, WotC said similar to what people below are saying. We said they are rebound of old material. Long story short, WotC said ok no problem, we have it in writing)"

As rebindings, these would be existing books simply being resold. However, the covers with the disputed logo are new.

In early March WotC launched a lawsuit -- (PDF attachment of filing) -- naming TSR, TSR CEO Justin LaNasa personally, and the Dungeon Hobby Shop museum. WotC seeks a judgement that TSR hand over all domains, take down all websites, pay treble damages and costs, hand over all stock and proceeds related to the trademarks, and more.

 

[Abstruse]

Is it still legal if the new binding has another company's trademark on the cover?

If it's a trademark or artwork that appeared on the original cover...maybe? That is a very nuanced case that I would definitely run by an actual real board-certified specialist grown-up intellectual property lawyer before I started charging over half a grand for them. There are a lot of questions I just don't have the answers to since I'm not a lawyer and I haven't been able to find answers in my searching.

For example, I have a friend who has rebound a bunch of Batman, X-Men, Spider-man, etc. graphic novels in nice faux-leather binding like this and he uses the logos for the characters and the companies DC and Marvel on the covers and spines. They're for his personal library, but because he purchased the physical graphic novels, he should be able to sell them if he wanted. Maybe. It may be different because he's an individual versus an LLC like "TSR" LLC or Dungeon Hobby Museum LLC, or it may be different because my friend isn't currently involved in a trademark lawsuit over the very trademarks in question.

It's possible this particular question hasn't come up in case law yet, or that it has and I just don't have access to the resources to find it, or my Google skills aren't what they used to be...but based on my casual knowledge of IP law...maybe? Then again, if I were already in the middle of a trademark lawsuit, I might just consider going for it because the company's likely going to be bankrupt if they lose no matter how deeper they dig the hole. And I also don't think it's quite registered with LaNasa that him being named personally in the lawsuit means he can't use the LLCs as a shield.

 

[Abstruse]

I only have one question ….

How are they NOT involved with NFTs?

Heh...TSR Con originally advertised that tickets for the "event" would be sold via NFTs. To the best of my knowledge, they never followed up on that.

Speaking of, they're claiming 800 attendees for TSR Con and that "60% of them" didn't even know Gary Con was a thing. For those unaware, TSR Con was held at the Dungeon Hobby Shop Museum, which is literally just a house. The "game room" was the dining room.

 

[Stormonu]

Has anybody noticed that all the covers are speckled except for the smooth cover of the Deities & Demigods cover? They've pulled fakes before, I wonder if that specific one is a photoshop replacement.

Also, anyone know what the "DHS" on the cover to the right of the logo is for? - Never mind: "Dungeon Hobby Shop", duh!

 

[adamantyr]

If it's a trademark or artwork that appeared on the original cover...maybe? That is a very nuanced case that I would definitely run by an actual real board-certified specialist grown-up intellectual property lawyer before I started charging over half a grand for them. There are a lot of questions I just don't have the answers to since I'm not a lawyer and I haven't been able to find answers in my searching.

For example, I have a friend who has rebound a bunch of Batman, X-Men, Spider-man, etc. graphic novels in nice faux-leather binding like this and he uses the logos for the characters and the companies DC and Marvel on the covers and spines. They're for his personal library, but because he purchased the physical graphic novels, he should be able to sell them if he wanted. Maybe. It may be different because he's an individual versus an LLC like "TSR" LLC or Dungeon Hobby Museum LLC, or it may be different because my friend isn't currently involved in a trademark lawsuit over the very trademarks in question.

It's possible this particular question hasn't come up in case law yet, or that it has and I just don't have access to the resources to find it, or my Google skills aren't what they used to be...but based on my casual knowledge of IP law...maybe? Then again, if I were already in the middle of a trademark lawsuit, I might just consider going for it because the company's likely going to be bankrupt if they lose no matter how deeper they dig the hole. And I also don't think it's quite registered with LaNasa that him being named personally in the lawsuit means he can't use the LLCs as a shield.

I'm not a trademark lawyer, but I would say that given the purpose of trademarks is to protect consumers from buying a product from a company pretending to be another company, an argument can definitely be made that these are trademark violating. Especially combined with TSR LLC's habit of claiming to be the TSR of old.

All I can think of is the scene from The Road to Wellville when after failing to make a proper cereal, the grifter characters just start tearing open boxes of Kellog's flakes and filling their own boxes with them frantically to meet an order. That level of insane craziness.

 

[CleverNickName]

The most I've ever paid for a single book was $300 $388 (I looked it up), and it was for one of my senior-level engineering textbooks. And everybody knows that college textbooks are the most overpriced books on the planet.

Well, until now.

Seems like this would be a very hard sell even if they were offering ALL FOUR books for $650.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

Anyone buying anything from these people is just asking to get ripped off at this point. TSR have dug so low that they’ve hit bedrock. Instead of giving up, they’ve instead pulled out the jackhammers to keep digging.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Anyone buying anything from these people is just asking to get ripped off at this point. TSR have dug so low that they’ve hit bedrock. Instead of giving up, they’ve instead pulled out the jackhammers to keep digging.

Next step- fracking.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

I wouldn't put it past these grifters to have done scans of the books and then used a color copier/printer to make as many as they wanted.

 

[Abstruse]

I'm not a trademark lawyer, but I would say that given the purpose of trademarks is to protect consumers from buying a product from a company pretending to be another company, an argument can definitely be made that these are trademark violating. Especially combined with TSR LLC's habit of claiming to be the TSR of old.

All I can think of is the scene from The Road to Wellville when after failing to make a proper cereal, the grifter characters just start tearing open boxes of Kellog's flakes and filling their own boxes with them frantically to meet an order. That level of insane craziness.

This is a separate issue because it's not trying to claim it's something that it's not. In the case of Star Frontiers and the TSR LLC and all that, they are (according to WotC's legal claim) attempting to deceive consumers by stating that it is a new version of the original Star Frontiers and that TSR is the same as the original TSR formed in 1973. In this case (assuming they're selling legally-purchased physical copies of the books simply rebound), they are not attempting to claim they are something they are not. If you buy Deities & Demigods or Fiend Folio or whatever, you are getting that product. And it is the original product from the original creator, simply pre-owned and modified.

Imagine it's a car. I bought a Honda Accord. I repaint that Honda Accord. I then want to resell that Honda Accord. I am legally allowed to do so because I purchased the car through legal means, and I am allowed to call it by its trademarked name "Honda Accord" because that's what it is. I am even allowed to use the original Honda Accord logos that are on the car. To continue this as an analogy, the question would be whether I can pry off the original Honda logo from the hood ornament and paint my own version of the Honda logo on the hood. It may or may not be a trademark violation because it's a different trademark from the original, but I am not using it in an attempt to deceive consumers because what I am selling is still a Honda Accord.

But yeah, the two big questions here are 1) if they're rebinding existing printed copies of the books in question and 2) if they're legally allowed to use their own versions of the trademarked logos on the cover.

 

[adamantyr]

This is a separate issue because it's not trying to claim it's something that it's not. In the case of Star Frontiers and the TSR LLC and all that, they are (according to WotC's legal claim) attempting to deceive consumers by stating that it is a new version of the original Star Frontiers and that TSR is the same as the original TSR formed in 1973. In this case (assuming they're selling legally-purchased physical copies of the books simply rebound), they are not attempting to claim they are something they are not. If you buy Deities & Demigods or Fiend Folio or whatever, you are getting that product. And it is the original product from the original creator, simply pre-owned and modified.

Imagine it's a car. I bought a Honda Accord. I repaint that Honda Accord. I then want to resell that Honda Accord. I am legally allowed to do so because I purchased the car through legal means, and I am allowed to call it by its trademarked name "Honda Accord" because that's what it is. I am even allowed to use the original Honda Accord logos that are on the car. To continue this as an analogy, the question would be whether I can pry off the original Honda logo from the hood ornament and paint my own version of the Honda logo on the hood. It may or may not be a trademark violation because it's a different trademark from the original, but I am not using it in an attempt to deceive consumers because what I am selling is still a Honda Accord.

But yeah, the two big questions here are 1) if they're rebinding existing printed copies of the books in question and 2) if they're legally allowed to use their own versions of the trademarked logos on the cover.

Given their own version of the trademarked logo is part of the litigation, it's not smart of them to sell any product with it on it, as that will be considered as part of the damages due.