Green Ronin Crowdfunding Legal Defense Fund In Fight Against Diamond Distrubutors

Green Ronin Publishing has set up a crowdfunding campaign to help cover legal fees fighting to get back their inventory from Diamond Comic Distributors in what it describes as "a dire financial threat to our company, not just today, but well into the future".

Diamond, which filed for Bankruptcy in January, still holds the stock of Green Ronin and over one hundred other companies in its warehouse, and has asked the court for ownership of that inventory so that it can liquidate it and pay its creditors. The distributor, while being mainly comic-book focused, also serves as distributor for some toy and TTRPG companies, including Green Ronin, Paizo, Goodman Games, and Roll For Combat.

The GoFundMe had raised $17K at the time of writing, with over 200 donations.

Paizo Publishing, also affected, has announced that its upcoming releases will not be available at major bookstores or at Amazon because the company has stopped shipping products to Diamond. This includes 12 August releases and 10 September releases, such as Starfinder Player Core, Starfinder GM Core, Pathfinder Battlecry, and more.

The court has scheduled a hearing on July 21 to hear objections from the affected vendors.

My name is Nicole Lindroos, co-owner of Green Ronin Publishing. Diamond Comic Distributors' recent Chapter 11 bankruptcy has impacted over 100 independent publishers, including Green Ronin, putting us in a very precarious position. Diamond is attempting to use a legal technicality to claim ownership of millions of dollars worth of consigned inventory, which amounts to several hundreds of thousands of dollars for Green Ronin Publishing alone. This is stock that we still own and have not been paid for.

This is a dire financial threat to our company, not just today, but well into the future. We must secure legal representation immediately before the deadline to do so passes.

While there is no "good" time for someone to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of your property to sell for the benefit of their biggest creditors, it is especially challenging given that Gen Con is weeks away. Gen Con is not just a convention for us, it's our most important annual event for connecting with TTRPG enthusiasts, our business partners, and our community, and this year is no exception. We're launching new products and have already committed significant funds to cover everything from booth space, travel (flights, rooms), and most critically, the production of new books and merchandise specifically for the show floor.

Diamond’s bankruptcy and this legal action also mean that Green Ronin has lost its book trade distributor. We are looking for a new partner, but that will take some time. Book trade sales of literary licenses, currently The Fifth Season and The Expanse, are a key part of our strategies for those games. This is especially bad timing for The Fifth Season RPG because we recently received final approvals from N.K. Jemisin and the game is ready to go to print.

We simply don't have the cash on hand to do all of this, pay for an attorney, or participate in any collective legal actions with other publishers in our same position.

The banks are stopping at nothing to wring every last dollar out of Diamond - including taking several hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of Green Ronin product to sell in order to pay Diamond’s debts - but they can't do that, and we've got a legal agreement that says as much. Now, we just need to secure a law firm to represent us in the courts.

The funds raised through this campaign will be used directly to cover the escalating legal fees associated with fighting Diamond's claim in bankruptcy court. This includes attorney retainers, court filing fees, and the costs of pursuing every possible avenue to recover our inventory and protect Green Ronin's assets.

 

[Jd Smith1]

You didn't answer the question about your legal background. Are you a practicing lawyer?

No. Never claimed to be.

 

[JLowder]

No. Never claimed to be.

So you have big feelings about the contracts and bankruptcies, along with the other hot takes you have offered about the way these businesses run. Got it.

 

[Jd Smith1]

So you have big feelings about the contracts and bankruptcies, along with the other hot takes you have offered about the way these businesses run. Got it.

I'm not sure what you mean by 'big feelings' in this context. You do not have to be a lawyer to read.

 

[JLowder]

I'm not sure what you mean by 'big feelings' in this context. You do not have to be a lawyer to read.

You have a lot of hot takes that turn out to be just hot takes. You claim bankruptcies are calm and orderly, when anyone who has worked in legal circles knows that's not true. You can even look at the coverage of bankruptcies in the business press to know that's not true, even before you get to the impact of all this on the human beings involved (which you steadfastly refuse to do).

My mistake for misreading your (faux) legal framing for your points as an actual understanding of the topics or the contracts or the law, let alone the industry.

 

[Jd Smith1]

You have a lot of hot takes that turn out to be just hot takes. You claim bankruptcies are calm and orderly, when anyone who has worked in legal circles knows that's not true. You can even look at the coverage of bankruptcies in the business press to know that's not true, even before you get to the impact of all this on the human being involved. My mistake for misreading your (faux) legal framing for your points as an actual understanding of the topics or the contracts or the law.

I'm feeling pretty confident you don't have a law degree, either.

 

[JLowder]

I'm feeling pretty confident you don't have a law degree, either.

No, I don't. I do, however, regularly work with contracts in the tabletop industry, as well as with lawyers and agents. Just negotiated a successful license extension for a publisher with Disney. I wrote many of the agreements (creator contracts, licenses, translation agreements) several publishers I have worked with over the years continue to use, and the contracts I write for my own use as a freelancer have allowed me to save my work and the work of other writers from bad actor publishers. I've actually been part of distribution negotiations, including with Diamond. I'm 5-and-0 or 6-and-0 against publishers such as TSR and WotC when contracts come into play. I've lost count over the years.

I'm moderating a panel on IP law for creators at Gamehole later this year, with a couple lawyers. Stop by if you want to start to pick up an understanding of the topic.

So, yeah, that hot take is not the flex you think it is either.

 

[Jd Smith1]

No, I don't. I do, however, regularly work with contracts in the tabletop industry, as well as with lawyers and agents. Just negotiated a successful license extension for a publisher with Disney. I wrote many of the agreements (creator contracts, licenses, translation agreements) several publishers I have worked with over the years continue to use, and the contracts I write for my own use as a freelancer have frequently allowed me to save my work and the work of other writers from bad actor publishers. I've actually been part of distribution negotiations, including with Diamond.

I'm moderating a panel on IP law for creators at Gamehole later this year, with a couple lawyers. Stop by if you want to start to pick up an understanding of the topic.

So, yeah, that hot take is not the flex you think it is either.

So, no law degree. Got it.

 

[JLowder]

So, no law degree. Got it.

And yet still far more qualified, through decades of direct experience, to speak to any part of this topic than you and to see where your hot takes are empty and cruel.

 

[Jd Smith1]

And yet still far more qualified, through decades of direct experience, to speak to any part of this topic than you.

I'm sure you believe that. I don't, but I hope it pays well.

So much of life boils down to money, much like the basis of this thread, in fact: GR needs 50k.

 

[Swanosaurus]

I guess it all comes down to that some think that everything unfolds following the inevitable and quasi-natural laws of business, so there's nothing to talk about. While others think that it's a topic worth talking about, worth taking action about, and that it's generally worth helping people.