Gail Gygax Sued By Movie Producer

In June it transpired that Gail Gygax, the widow of D&D co-creator Gary Gygax was being sued. This isn't the first time she has been embroiled in legal disputes, there having been major family disputes between her and Gygax's children over recent years, but this is the first time with a Hollywood movie producer!

According to Variety, the Gygax estate partnered with De Santo to oversee the catalogue of published and unpublished works. In June of this year, according to the Courthouse News Service, "Tom DeSanto — producer of “Xmen” and “Transformers” — sued Gail Gygax — the widow of Gary Gygax, creator of “Dungeons & Dragons,” claiming they formed a partnership to exploit the brand, but she tried to negotiate a video game deal without him, in L.A. Superior Court."

That this is ongoing has been confirmed yesterday by a public Facebook post from Gail Gygax, which reiterates that she is being sued in California by Tom DeSanto (X-Men, Transformers) and New Myth Entertainment for $30M over plans to publish Gary's original dungeon. The post is below, verbatim, although it has been edited a few times, as can be seen in the post's edit history, and it's a little incoherent.

"What is on my mind?@

The 30 million lawsuit Tom DeSanto filed against me in CA, the prestigious producer, lol,DELAYS MY HOPE TO PUBLISH Gary's original dungeon. An historical work.
I guess i will be losing our home and Garys dungeon.

I am 62 years old. Can any one say Elder Abuse? Hunter. The thought of losing our home in the next two weeks has me devastated.

No one, except my agent has stepped up to defend me. She was fired from APA. TOM deSanto said to me an agent from APA was up on child molestation and basically said they were a third rate agency. Also that he knows the owner. Wow. Then my fantastic agent gets fired from the agency he, Tom, said was third rate.

My agent is fantastic and I can only say after many years in LA, she is the best.

I almost died in 2014 when Luke and Ernie sued me, and Margaret Weis. Shocking Margaret as Gary was so kind to you.

Weis as a board member. Not sure why She was so negative against me other than to gain financial control over the Gygax trademark..

I believe Tom DeSanto, accordinding to his email wants to strip me of our home and all properties Gary and i were working. On.

I refuse to attend GarybCon as Luke Gygax is so very negative to me. I love our much beloved Gen Con, however due to what i believe are Luke Gygaxes rants with his friends against me i am afraid to attend Gen Con. I would not to put Peter in a bad position. .Peter and Gen Con has only been respectful and loving to me and Alexander.

My home has been invaded, there was a trip wire by my back step to kill me and I know what is missing from our home.

My stepchildren places a headstone without a body. It reads. E Gary Gygax. Beloved Father and Grandfather. So my step childrens hatred of me is front and center. I was his beloved wife. No respect from them. I was shocked and dismayed when Harold Jog son informed me of this act at Gen Con. I was indeed devastated and bed ridden for two months.

With NO CONCERN FROM MY STEP CHILDREN.

I was Told by Chris Hoffner if i didnt licence GaryCon to him they would run over me.

Nice. I created GaryCon in my husbands memory. Guess my stepchildren cant share with me and Alex.

i can only believe TOM DESANTO AND NEW MYTH entertainment with David Ranes has victomized me. Not sure calling the FBI TOMORROW

Tom is suing me for $30mil. I asked my stepchildren to help me. Only to get the answer from Luke if i didnt make him branding manager there would be no agreement with his sibblings. What doess that even mean?. He wants control over my 30+ year company.

So i start a new jouney to make sure my husbands works are brought forward. I am disappointed Hasbro WOTC will not return my emails.

I WANT garys original dungeon i. With HIS original rules. Dungeons and Dragons.

I hope i have support for this historical moment.

Mrs. E. Gary Gygax
I will love him until the day i die. He was a truly special man. I was so honored to be married to him."

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

It looks like Gygax magazine is still going on the website. And if Luke's last name is Gygax, I don't see how she can stop him from using his own name for the magazine.

They aren't making new issues.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Indeed, ten years on, I think the value of those IPs has only gone down. Pulling the rights from TLG and the rest was a poor decision. With the boom in gaming that occurred since, even moreso.


Now, it’s pretty much only of interest to grognards and other older gamers. I was surprised Tom DeSanto even got involved in the first place, but perhaps he’s a gamer of old as well?

She also doesn't really have anything left to monetise, WoTC settled with Gary about D&D residuals circa 1999/2000. She might have some unpublished materials and Gary's personal notes left over. Some of that stuff might be of value to a collect. Castle Zagyg has been on the boiler since 2002 IIRC its basically vaporware at this point.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

Indeed, ten years on, I think the value of those IPs has only gone down. Pulling the rights from TLG and the rest was a poor decision. With the boom in gaming that occurred since, even moreso.


Now, it’s pretty much only of interest to grognards and other older gamers. I was surprised Tom DeSanto even got involved in the first place, but perhaps he’s a gamer of old as well?

Yeah, I find the idea that the modern gaming public is clamoring for Gygax IP to be iffy. Granted I'd like to see it but I'm still gaming like its 1977. Each year I think the gaming value of that drops.

 

[qstor]

She also doesn't really have anything left to monetise, WoTC settled with Gary about D&D residuals circa 1999/2000. She might have some unpublished materials and Gary's personal notes left over. Some of that stuff might be of value to a collect.

This is off topic of this thread but wasn't Greyhawk etc part of TSR's right's when WotC bought it. So Greyhawk would automatically go to WotC when they bought TSR or are you talking any possible action Gary had against the board of directors of TSR for the firing? Just curious...

 

[WayneLigon]

From these two articles:
https://variety.com/2016/film/news/gary-gygax-estate-dungeons-and-dragons-tom-desanto-1201824039/
https://www.courthousenews.com/tinseltown/

Gail is or was in a legal partnership with Tom DeSanto, for works 'published and unpublished'. So, if she's trying by herself to publish the 'original dungeon', then she's likely in breach of contract.
However, the second article says that's not what the lawsuit is about at all:
"... claiming they formed a partnership to exploit the brand, but she tried to negotiate a video game deal without him..." which I suppose would also be something their partnership says he must be involved in and consulted about.

 

[GrahamWills]

It looks like Gygax magazine is still going on the website. And if Luke's last name is Gygax, I don't see how she can stop him from using his own name for the magazine.

In the US, as in most countries, just because it's your name doesn't give you any special status.
try and open a restaurant called "McDonald's" when your name is McDonald, and you will rapidly learn all about it!

Once a name becomes a registered entity, the fact that you share it is not really relevant

 

[Emerikol]

In the US, as in most countries, just because it's your name doesn't give you any special status.
try and open a restaurant called "McDonald's" when your name is McDonald, and you will rapidly learn all about it!

Once a name becomes a registered entity, the fact that you share it is not really relevant

I would think if you opened something that did not look like a McDonald's in any way beyond the name that you'd be in the clear. I haven't even thought about it for decades though so the laws may have changed.

 

[billd91]

I would think if you opened something that did not look like a McDonald's in any way beyond the name that you'd be in the clear. I haven't even thought about it for decades though so the laws may have changed.

I think it depends - RadioShack got snippy about the term anything on the web with the term <something>Shack for a while, even when it was pretty clear they weren't related. As has been pointed out, a big corporation has a lot more endurance than someone with a domain or business name that doesn't really infringe a trademark. Even if David is in the right, all Goliath needs to do is keep things going to exhaust David's resources so they drop their defense and knuckle under.

 

[Zardnaar]

This is off topic of this thread but wasn't Greyhawk etc part of TSR's right's when WotC bought it. So Greyhawk would automatically go to WotC when they bought TSR or are you talking any possible action Gary had against the board of directors of TSR for the firing? Just curious...

Yes but (AFAIK) there was left over legal issues form the 80's over who actually owned TSR.

Gary sold share of TSR in the 70's to the Blumes, when he was forced out in 85 after the Blumes sold to Lorraine he agreed to sell his remaining share to her/TSR. But IDK if they every paid out the agreed amount to him so he had a case/claim on WoTC. WoTC settle either on the remaining left over amount (+ interest for inflation IDK) or if Gary was arguing since the original deal was not honored they had to buy him out. Arneson also got some residuals do to long standing legal issues over his ouster.

Either way they probably signed something along the lines of a "Full and final settlement of all your claim of rights ownership etc etc etc" in return for some amount of money. Had Gary had an unlimited amount of money he never would have got controlling share back (unless he bought it out right) but he would have a claim on anything WoTC did with the D&D brand.

TLDR WoTC settled outstanding legal issues dating from the 70's and 80's. I'm not a lawyer but WoTC was still bound by TSR legal agreements hence things like the D&D movies.

 

[ddaley]

If the various Gygax's could have figured out how to work together, I am sure they could have released some great material to honor Gary's legacy. Too bad this is such a mess.