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Evidence from the Arneson vs Gygax court case, including early draft of D&D with notes
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<blockquote data-quote="Snarf Zagyg" data-source="post: 9276177" data-attributes="member: 7023840"><p>Okay. I'm mostly not posting for an indefinite period of time.</p><p></p><p>That said, I need to briefly address this, because it keeps coming up. It's great to see the historical documents. But people need to stop repeating the same incorrect information about the court proceedings.</p><p></p><p>The court <u>did not find anything</u>. The court <u>did not find in Arneson's favor</u>. There was no judgment from the court, and there was no opinion from the court on those issues. Are we clear? Good.</p><p></p><p>First, the actual issues in the case were not about who "created D&D," but rather about the specific contract that assigned rights and gave royalties to both Gygax and Arneson. Yes, there were collateral issues raised by affirmative defenses that would go to the issue of how much of a contribution was made to the original rules, but at its heart, this was about construing the contract, and then determining whether or not additional works were covered by the language of the original contract. Okay?</p><p></p><p>Next, there was no court finding. The case was not resolved at motion practice. It was not resolved at summary judgment. It was headed to a trial, when (at a moment of maximum leverage, given that TSR was booming and they did not want any possible cloud over the IP as they were exploring licensing) ... there was a settlement. That's not a court finding. That's a settlement. The parties reached an agreement (a new, enforceable contract) that resolved the litigation.</p><p></p><p>Finally, the future litigation involving Arneson (such as the Monster Manual 2 litigation) was not about any additional court findings, but about construing the settlement agreement.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Good? Good.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Snarf Zagyg, post: 9276177, member: 7023840"] Okay. I'm mostly not posting for an indefinite period of time. That said, I need to briefly address this, because it keeps coming up. It's great to see the historical documents. But people need to stop repeating the same incorrect information about the court proceedings. The court [U]did not find anything[/U]. The court [U]did not find in Arneson's favor[/U]. There was no judgment from the court, and there was no opinion from the court on those issues. Are we clear? Good. First, the actual issues in the case were not about who "created D&D," but rather about the specific contract that assigned rights and gave royalties to both Gygax and Arneson. Yes, there were collateral issues raised by affirmative defenses that would go to the issue of how much of a contribution was made to the original rules, but at its heart, this was about construing the contract, and then determining whether or not additional works were covered by the language of the original contract. Okay? Next, there was no court finding. The case was not resolved at motion practice. It was not resolved at summary judgment. It was headed to a trial, when (at a moment of maximum leverage, given that TSR was booming and they did not want any possible cloud over the IP as they were exploring licensing) ... there was a settlement. That's not a court finding. That's a settlement. The parties reached an agreement (a new, enforceable contract) that resolved the litigation. Finally, the future litigation involving Arneson (such as the Monster Manual 2 litigation) was not about any additional court findings, but about construing the settlement agreement. Good? Good. [/QUOTE]
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Evidence from the Arneson vs Gygax court case, including early draft of D&D with notes
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