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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DammitVictor" data-source="post: 8323200" data-attributes="member: 6750908">Wizards of the Coast Hasbro has absolutely no need to take any legal action at this point, and it's not in their best interests.TSR is currently technically violating some of WotC's copyrights by using old TSR logos that are still  owned by WotC, still used by WotC at DriveThruRPG and DMs Guild, and would not have been included in registering the TSR trademark with the State of Wisconsin. They're WotC property, you can't buy someone else's property from the government, normally, and the exceptions which I cannot discuss here do not apply to intellectual property.They're violating WotC's copyrights, but there's no legal obligation to defend your copyright.WotC is still using the TSR trademarks, so they still own the TSR trademarks regardless of what some out-of-state upstart thinks. Registration is not technically a requirement. If they don't take immediate action via appropriate legal means to enforce their trademarks, those trademarks will legally be declared abandoned. This means... they'll lose the legal standing to demand that other people stop using them, which they weren't exercising anyway, and they'll still own the copyrights to the artwork in the logos that TSR is using.Public Relations Wise: Wizards of the Coast enjoys tremendous goodwill from being the company that makes the game Matt Mercer runs on TV, all of the celebrities that keep saying how much they love D&D, their recent efforts to make the game more inclusive, the fact they put almost their entire back catalog on DTRPG/DMG for people who want to explore D&D's history or (more likely) don't like what WotC is publishing now.Right now, the story is OLD MAN YELLING AT CLOUD ACCIDENTALLY A HATE CRIME. It's not a good story for WotC, and they want it to go away as quickly as possible, but if they lift a finger the story in the mainstream news becomes BILLION DOLLAR MULTINATIONAL CRUSHES SON OF BELOVED CREATOR and the news in places that support the things Ernie said becomes REAL LIFE D&D HERO SILENCED BY RAINBOW CONSPIRACY. This is the best possible outcome for everyone at TSR that is not Ernie Gygax.Wizards of the Coast wants TSR to stop embarassing everyone and make some games, preferably that don't infringe upon intellectual property that WotC owns. Trying to use their lawyers to make this go away, as tempting as it must seem, does the exact opposite of both objectives.Likewise, anyone saying that WotC is somehow behind either  TSR's comments or people's angry responses... needs to go lay down and then they need to go outside. Of all of the companies that have a stake in this little melodrama, Hasbro is the only one that does not have a single possible strategy for gaining from it. This new TSR never stood a chance of competing with them, the entire OSR movement is good for them and they know it, and their only moves since Gygax gave that stupid interview were to sit back and watch this tiny little company damaging their most valuable property, or set themselves on fire to get rid of them.[HR][/HR]You know, I had some things I wanted to say about the whole incel revenge fantasy thing... but they're pretty obvious to anyone who isn't already in that trap, and they're better suited for orhwe venues. Done for now, going back to the last thirteen pages that appeared while I was typing.</blockquote>

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