Gencon Sued by LucasFilm (over Star Wars Celebration Make-a-Wish auction)

[CharlesRyan]

"Innocent until proven guilty" is also a philosophical perspective.

I don't know anything about this case except for a few news blurbs that outline Lucasfilm's side of the story. Business, like life, can be complicated; who knows what Gen Con LLC's side of the story is?

So I'm applying "innocent until proven guilty" to my own outlook, and refraining from demonizing Gen Con at this point. They get no dark side points from me until the whole story is out.

 

[Hand of Evil]

The question also becomes what other issues may be generated by this. The IRS may always get involved to look at GenCon's book, the lawyers may even request it.

Failure to provide the bookkeeping to Lucus Film is not a good sign but happens a good bit, see Peter Jackson's lawsuit about LotR.

 

[DonTadow]

That's pretty cynical, dude. I help administer a gamer-fueled charity (Child's Play) and we keep things very simple. If you donate a dollar, exactly one dollar is sent to our partner hospitals (we don't take out any money for "administrative fees" or other BS).

Since the $1.3 million dollars donated to Child's Play this year mostly came in individual donations of $5 - $20 from individual gamers, I'd hate for people to get the idea that donating to charity is more trouble than it's worth. It's no trouble at all. And those donations make a profound difference in the lives of real people.

-z

No, not donating, going through the legal hassles. We weren't a nonporifit organiztion, and when you are a profit organization advertising that proceeds are going to a non profit you have to have the right paper work and may (depending on your state) open yourself up for auditing. Depending on the state you may need your own seperate 503b license and/or organization. It's not as simple as sending out an email saying there's a charity.

If you guys are doing it and doing it right that's great, but a lot of places we see don't and the audit eventually gets them.

If you're going to donate to a charity, then donate to the charity directly or make sure you have 100 percent confidence in the middle man organziation.

BTW, I make my living off of fundraising. It would be pretty stupid for me to tell people not to donate to charity.

 

[Zaruthustran]

Okay, I see what you meant. Absolutely agree that it's critical to make sure everything is properly structured and accounted.

 

[Brown Jenkin]

Gen Con had an announcement on its forums Monday that said they weren't allowed to talk about the lawsuit and wouldn't entertain questions about it on the boards. That announcement is gone now however so I guess someone stepped in and told the people running the boards that that meant any discussion even an announcement that they weren't talking about it.

 

[Bagpuss]

The story at the link is deceptive. Gen Con is being sued for $500,000 for breaching an agreement. They are also being sued for $150,000 for the auction. The rest of the money is interest.

$650,000 to $1,000,000 in under a year, that's really good interest. Or perhaps they are guestimating the punitive damages as well?

 

[Rykion]

$650,000 to $1,000,000 in under a year, that's really good interest. Or perhaps they are guestimating the punitive damages as well?

Yeah, I failed my read PDF check and had to post the rest later in the thread. They are also suing for $150,000 for conversion, and another $150,000 for unfair enrichment. So the total is $950,000 plus interest.

 

[marimacc]

Gen Con had an announcement on its forums Monday that said they weren't allowed to talk about the lawsuit and wouldn't entertain questions about it on the boards. That announcement is gone now however so I guess someone stepped in and told the people running the boards that that meant any discussion even an announcement that they weren't talking about it.

No, the announcement isn't gone, it's right here:

http://community.gencon.com/forums/thread/166841.aspx

 

[Bardsandsages]

Well the issue is compounded by the fact that Lucas Films apparently also spent time helping advertise the event to their own fan base to help boost the auction. Basically, Gen Con got a huge amount of "free" advertising on the various Lucas Films websites and fan publications, which is mostly where the "enrichment" amount comes from.

It also reads to me as if GenCon was suppose to give the money to Lucas Films, who was then making the donation to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. GenCon was not suppose to be making the donation directly to MAWF.

From the complaint, Gen Con owes LFL money from the original license fee to use the Star Wars IP, from the actual auction, and from the enrichment.

It's ugly, to be sure. Honestly, it doesn't seem like Lucas Films is being unreasonable at all. If you are going to try to profit off of one of the most successful IPs in history, you better make sure you dot all the i's and cross all the t's. I'm more inclined to believe Gen Con was just plain sloppy with accounting, and then failed to communicate properly with Lucas Films. Lack of communication is, I am afraid, all too normal in the gaming industry. But it surely doesn't sit well with serious companies outside the gaming industry.

 

[DonTadow]

I'm more inclined to believe Gen Con was just plain sloppy with accounting, and then failed to communicate properly with Lucas Films. Lack of communication is, I am afraid, all too normal in the gaming industry. But it surely doesn't sit well with serious companies outside the gaming industry.

And gencon most notably has had bad communication problems in the past.