WotC Gale Force 9 Sues WotC [Updated]

In the second lawsuit against WotC in recent weeks (Dragonlance authors Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman sued the company for breach of contract and other things about a month ago), Gale Force 9 is suing the company for breach of contract and implied duty of good faith.

Gale Force 9 produces miniatures, cards, DM screens, and other D&D accessories. They’re asking for damages of nearly a million dollars, as well as an injunction to prevent WotC from terminating the licensing contract.

From the suit, it looks like WotC wanted to end a licensing agreement a year early. When GF9 didn't agree to that, WotC indicated that they would refuse to approve any new licensed products from GF9. It looks like the same sort of approach they took with Weis and Hickman, which also resulted in a lawsuit. The dispute appears to relate to some product translations in non-US markets. More information as I hear it!

UPDATE. GF9's CEO, Jean-Paul Brisigotti, spoke to ICv2 and said: "After twelve years of working with Wizards, we find ourselves in a difficult place having to utilize the legal system to try and resolve an issue we have spent the last six months trying to amicably handle between us without any success. We still hope this can be settled between us but the timeline for a legal resolution has meant we have been forced to go down this path at this time."

 

[Morrus]

What publisher did Disney Buy? Aren't they their own publisher and none of the books in question are published by Disney themselves.

They bought Lucasfilm, which included the rights to the Star Wars novels by Alan Dean Foster, who they are apparently refusing to pay royalties to. It's all in the link.

 

[eyeheartawk]

Seems like their general counsel at Hasbro has some interesting ideas on contract law, since we've seen this twice now.

In this case I would guess the motivations would be to bring this product in house and shore up a revenue stream. The general downside of licensing is if the thing you are licensing is too successful the mother company will want it back as they see it as revenue they are losing out on. This is exactly what happened with Netrunner, and they refused to let FFG renew the license (though they did let the contract simply expire there).

 

[mykesfree]

They bought Lucasfilm, which included the rights to the Star Wars novels by Alan Dean Foster, who they are apparently refusing to pay royalties to. It's all in the link.

Is Lucasfilm a book publisher? I didn't think so. Does the IP asset holder pay royalties or does the book publisher? I don't know these answers.

 

[Marc_C]

My take on this and the Dragonlance suit is that WoTC is probably hurting economically because of Covid-19. They are trying to cut their loses by lawyering out of some contracts.

Now, I'm wondering if players not allowed to play MTG in most gaming stores is hurting WoTC's bottom line. Tournaments and casual play in stores generates a lot of sales for them. It's their business model.

 

[Morrus]

Is Lucasfilm a book publisher? I didn't think so. Does the IP asset holder pay royalties or does the book publisher? I don't know these answers.

You can read more at the link.

 

[embee]

My take on this and the Dragonlance suit is that WoTC is probably hurting economically because of Covid-19. They are trying to cut their loses by lawyering out of some contracts.

Now, I'm wondering if players not allowed to play MTG in most gaming stores is hurting WoTC's bottom line. Tournaments and casual play in stores generates a lot of sales for them. It's their business model.

That is the exact opposite of the reality. COVID has helped WotC (and Hasbro).

Hasbro’s Q3 earnings beat expectations as families spend more on board games throughout pandemic - ToyNews

Stuck at home parents and a global demand for board games and home entertainment has helped Hasbro b

www.toynews-online.biz

Moreover, with the success of Critical Role and with a wide array of VTT options and robust broadband infrastructure allowing for continued play (albeit online), D&D has continued record growth apace. 2019 was D&D's best year ever in terms of sales revenue, reflecting large acceptance of 5e, along with the financial success of synergistic partnerships and brand development such as pairing D&D with MTG and cross-branding with Adult Swim and Netflix.

 

[Alzrius]

Once is a coincidence. Twice is happenstance. Thrice is enemy action.

It appears to me that there is at least one person at WotC/Hasbro who thinks "not paying your bills" is a good way to cut budgets. I'd like to see the courts put the screws to the company hard enough that the next thieving parasite who proposes this is terminated so fast his 401k catches fire.

You transposed the "once" and "twice" parts, but otherwise make a good observation.

 

[DammitVictor]

You transposed the "once" and "twice" parts, but otherwise make a good observation.

I originally heard it that once was a backfire and twice was a coincidence but three times was gunplay.

So I wasn't really sure how that version was supposed to go.

 

[Zaukrie]

The Disney thing is 1000000000000000x worse. Not close.

 

[Ace]

What publisher did Disney Buy? Aren't they their own publisher and none of the books in question are published by Disney themselves.

Should be in the links. Steven Jackson Games was posting the original links and as a publisher themselves they were shocked and irate.