Arneson vs Gygax lawsuit

[randomwizard]

Frank Mentzer wrote on dragonsfoot that there would be legal ramifications from the settlement with Arneson if TSR ever stopped producing a Basic D&D. What could those ramifications have been? I would think it would mean a large payout, but who knows.

 

[tomBitonti]

Hi,

Can anyone post a simple summary of the suit, and the decisions? Or, provide a link to the same? I tried reading through the material, and it is O! quite a lot to read, and the majority of it seems to be relating to the issue of jurisdiction. Finding a discussion on the merits of the basic suit, and the decision, are hard to find. Is it me, or is the defendant throwing up a smoke screen, and, unless the issue has merit, how do courts look upon such maneuvering?

Thx!

TomB

 

[randomwizard]

Can anyone post a simple summary of the suit, and the decisions?

It has been a while since I read it, but... It mostly talks about two things. Does the court have jurisdiction because TSR is located somewhere else, and does the signed agreement apply "at all" to the situation. The answer is... yes, the court has jurisdiction and that the note appears to be acceptable as a contract agreement and so the case should proceed.
I do not recall any of the documentations actually going into the case or adjudicating whether TSR owed Arneson for any AD&D products.
It is possible that they settled out of court at that time. I do not know.

 

[tomBitonti]

Hi,

Thanks, kingmundi!

TomB

 

[havard]

Frank Mentzer wrote on dragonsfoot that there would be legal ramifications from the settlement with Arneson if TSR ever stopped producing a Basic D&D. What could those ramifications have been? I would think it would mean a large payout, but who knows.

From what I understand, Arneson recieved a sum of money after a final out of court settlement. He used that money to start his own gaming company Adventure Games, which was eventually merged with Flying Buffalo Games.

It is interesting and sad that Dave and Gary invented such a huge cultural phenomenon, yet neither of them ended up with much wealth from their creation.

-Havard

 

[Brian Baier]

I forgot to come back and check on this. Thanks for the vote of confidence (unless it's sarcasm), but unfortunately I still can't post a link. So, I'll just do what I can.

 

[Brian Baier]

Because our citation does not appear in the pdf, I would like to add to this thread the origin of the document (which I scanned for the patron who posted it online).


This legal document is part of the Judge Edward J. Devitt Papers from the Orin G. Libby Manuscript Collection at the Elwyn B. Robinson Department of Special Collections at the University of North Dakota.
Specifically, Box 32, Folder 9:


David L. Arneson v. Gary Gygax and TSR Hobbies, etc., Civ. 4-79-109. The original author of the game "Dungeons and Dragons" sued for unpaid royalties on later adapted versions.


I'm still unable to link here to that collection, but you can google it if you really want to.

 

[Umbran]

I'm still unable to link here to that collection, but you can google it if you really want to.

As a spam-prevention measure, we require a minimum number of posts before you can put a link in a post. I believe the minimum number of posts is 10 at this time.

 

[Remus Lupin]

Having worked on library archival stuff in grad school, back when most of this stuff was not online, I'm happy to help out. Here's the citation:

This legal document is part of the Judge Edward J. Devitt Papers from the Orin G. Libby Manuscript Collection at the Elwyn B. Robinson Department of Special Collections at the University of North Dakota.
Specifically, Box 32, Folder 9:

David L. Arneson v. Gary Gygax and TSR Hobbies, etc., Civ. 4-79-109. The original author of the game "Dungeons and Dragons" sued for unpaid royalties on later adapted versions.

http://webapp.und.edu/dept/library/Collections/og1253.html

 

[Brian Baier]

Much appreciated!