TSR TSR (2) Confirms TSR (3)'s Acquisition of Trademark (Updated!)

Jayson Elliot registered the TSR trademark back in 2011 and used it to launch Gygax Magazine along with Ernie and Luke Gygax. The two Gygax's left the company a few years later after Gary Gygax's (co-founder of TSR (1) back in the 1970s) widow, Gail Gygax, forced the closure of Gygax Magazine. Then, earlier this year, TSR (3) swooped in on the TSR trademark, after Jayson Elliot accidentally let it lapse, as TSR (2) confirms:

We have owned the TSR trademark since 2011. Last year, we missed a filing date, and another company registered it, though we are still using it in commerce. While we could win a lawsuit, we frankly don't have the money to litigate. So, we're licensing it back from them.

As a result, there are two companies now using the name TSR. You can tell when it's us because we're the only ones using the new logo.

They're opening a museum in Lake Geneva at the old TSR house, and we wish them success with it, it's important to celebrate the legacy that Gary Gygax created.

Ernie Gygax, formerly of TSR (1) under Gary Gygax, then working with Jayson Elliot as part of TSR (2), is one of the founders of of TSR (3), and confirmed in his (now infamous) interview --

The other TSR is a licensee because [Jayson Elliot] let it lapse. But he had absolutely ... love for the game and the products. There was no reason to say 'oh you've screwed up, oh it's all ours, ha ha ha ha!' Instead, Justin [LaNasa] came to him and said ... we love that you're doing Top Secret things, we have a much broader goal for the whole thing. But there's no reason for you to stop or even have any troubles. Justin said, I'll take care of the paperwork, you just give me $10 a year, and you put out all this love for old school gaming that you can. And we appreciate that you were there to try and pick up things, and you produced Gygax Magazine, for in its time that you're also working on a game that you love to play ... because Top Secret was Jayson's love, as a young man.

TSR (2), still run by Jayson Elliot, publishes Top Secret, and is not connected to TSR (3) other than now having to license it’s own name from them. TSR (3) has also registered the trademark to Star Frontiers, a game owned by and still currently sold by D&D-owner WotC.

In other news the GYGAX trademark appears to have lapsed.

UPDATE! TSR (2) has decided NOT to license its own name from TSR (3):

Update to our earlier tweet - we will NOT be licensing anything from the new company claiming rights to the TSR logos. We are not working with them in any fashion.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I am so sorry for Luke.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Sigh....these are comments he hasn't really said in the past with this much vitriol. He needs to get away from LaNasa and the toxic people who keep pushing him.

He needs an intervention. LaNasa isn't going to provide him the ability to take over his father's legacy or become the next great Gygax creator.

I mean LaNasa is the same guy who forced his female employees to wrestle in grits to see who would get a promotion. That's what kind of guy he is. Ernie would be best served to get as far away from him as possible.

https://www.newsobserver.com/news/state/north-carolina/article240600416.html

LaNasa alleging using video of his in a political campaign certainly suggests he really doesn't understand much about copyright.

 

[Maxperson]

Just not signal that an apology would not be accepted no matter what. If you do, then why should they apologize if it does not change anything?

An insincere apology means that they have not changed and still believe everything that they've said. Why would you accept that apology?

 

[Charlaquin]

Well, I think I found TSR(3)'s target audience (the thread itself is good, but the bulk of the replies and QRTs are just vile).

Oh, god, the anti-intellectualism…

 

[UngeheuerLich]

An insincere apology means that they have not changed and still believe everything that they've said. Why would you accept that apology?

Never said that. You are misinterpreting my words. Maybe I did not make myself clear enough.

 

[overgeeked]

Wow. Who in their right mind would have ANYTHING to do with that guy?

People have been saying the same thing about various bigots in the community for years. Take RPGPundit as an example. People still flock to him, do business with him, sell his books, hire him, listen to his nonsense, etc. As the man said, crap piles together.

 

[Maxperson]

Never said that. You are misinterpreting my words. Maybe I did not make myself clear enough.

I did misread that. My apologies.

 

[Parmandur]

Yeah, you can miss me with all these "No, LaNasa is the real problem, if we could only get pure innocent Ernie away from this bad bad influence!" takes.

Man made his bed, and he gets to lie in it, no matter how much worse others in his circle are.

This is true, he is not an innocent.

 

[Mistwell]

I didn't see a post in this thread that addressed what I wanted to say in the way that I wanted to say it. There were posts with similar themes and with similar rebuttals, but none of them had seemed to work, which I why I made that post. I have also read your posts that you refer to, and may rebut them later. Although I agree with you that there are "kinder" ways to criticize dead people for having and spreading outdated and harmful ideas, I disagree with the premise of "dead people are immune to criticism", like @imagineGod was spouting. I also disagree with the assertion that saying something true is unneeded if similar things have been stated before. If that were correct, we wouldn't need to actively fight against anti-vaxxing and other harmful ideas. Some approaches to issues are more likely to succeed than others, and attempting to take a different approach doesn't make saying that thing redundant.

I didn't say speaking truth is not needed. I said speaking about ideas you disagree with is far more useful and powerful than speaking about people you disagree with.

Anti-vaxxing is an idea, and "Fred" is a person. Speaking about anti-vaxxing goes much further than speaking about a guy who died named Fred who may have espoused that idea. For a variety of reasons, not the least of which Fred espousing an idea at a particular moment in his life might not be representative of Fred's entire life. And it also causes unnecessary divisions between people who might have liked Fred otherwise but who might also be very open to the idea of being pro-vax if it were the idea that was being discussed rather than the person.

 

[LordEntrails]

This all just makes me so sad.

Sure I've had some idolization of Gary Gygax since I learned who he was when I started playing the in the '70's. As I grew up, I learned he wasn't perfect, few are. I have a lot of nostalgia and hopeful good will towards the name "TSR" as well (D&D, Top Secret, Gang Busters, Star Frontiers...)

But you can't go home again. And it's so sad to see that those who are trying to do so are hanging on the worst aspects to cling to instead of the spirit and hope of the future and imagination that, imo, are what drew us to love of RPGs.