WizKids sues Wizards of the Coast over CSG patent

RPGObjects_chuck · June 06, 2007, 12:21:48 PM

Quote from: Ian AbsentiaI shouldn't have been so specific. The intended point of the story is how IBM was (still is?) notorious for filing patent infringement suits as a means to dog, and hopefully cripple, competition. And it's not a unique or isolated corporate strategy.

!i!

Right but that isn't the case here, since both companies' pockets are plenty hefty. Just some overzealous corporate lawyers getting litigious. My guess would be cooler heads will prevail and the interested parties will eventually work out a deal before things get too crazy.

Of course you can never underestimate folks' propensity for being occasionally dumb either.

Still, the amusing thing to me are the folks on message boards who wouldn't know a patent law if it walked up and shook their hand, and who probably don't play either of the games in question, picking sides and calling Hasbro greedy or Topps thieves.

beeber · June 06, 2007, 12:26:08 PM

topps owns wizkids? wow :eyepop: where have i been?

i guess you need lots o money to make all that plastic. . . .

Ian Absentia · June 06, 2007, 12:39:44 PM

Quote from: RPGObjects_chuckRight but that isn't the case here, since both companies' pockets are plenty hefty. Just some overzealous corporate lawyers getting litigious.

How is this not the case here? That's pretty much what I meant when I wrote "filing patent infringement suits as a means to dog, and hopefully cripple, competition". Or are you just being argumentative to feel important?

!i!

RPGPundit · June 06, 2007, 12:49:11 PM

Quote from: RPGObjects_chuckStill, the amusing thing to me are the folks on message boards who wouldn't know a patent law if it walked up and shook their hand, and who probably don't play either of the games in question, picking sides and calling Hasbro greedy or Topps thieves.

They call Hasbro greedy because they have a hate-on for D&D.

I call Topps thieves because in this case, that's exactly what they were.

RPGPundit

Ian Absentia · June 06, 2007, 02:30:56 PM

Quote from: RPGPunditThey call Hasbro greedy because they have a hate-on for D&D.

"They"? "Hate-on"? As usual, Pundy, you're making shit up. I'm tempted to call you delusional, but, frankly, I think you're just a liar.

!i!

RPGPundit · June 06, 2007, 02:44:07 PM

Quote from: Ian Absentia"They"? "Hate-on"? As usual, Pundy, you're making shit up. I'm tempted to call you delusional, but, frankly, I think you're just a liar.

!i!

Says the guy who tried to pretend that Wizkids was a little mom-and-pop operation being steamrolled by the evil WoTC Corporate Overlords.

RPGPundit

JongWK · June 06, 2007, 02:45:11 PM

Quite frankly, the biggest problem is the financial drain that both WK and WotC face. I dont' think their parent companies would like to see this lawsuit dragging on for years.

beeber · June 06, 2007, 03:08:50 PM

and how small is the percentage of sales each of them make for their parent company? like, how much of hasbro's profits come from wotc stuff, and for the other? it can't be that great, i would think. small change fights between two corporates :confused:

oh well. back to thinking about traveller stuff (thanks, ian. . .

)

J Arcane · June 06, 2007, 04:48:25 PM

Quote from: RPGPunditJ Arcane, my blog entry had all the proof. WoTC filed the patents years before Wizkids put out Pirates... and most importantly the same guy who had invented the particular card-gimmick for WoTC went on to work for Wizkids and was the guy who invented Pirates, the game that uses that method.

So this is a clearcut case of corporate theft.

There's no debate here, other than the eternal debate of why you are such a worthless cunt, and why you're on this site at all?

RPGPundit

you really do live in a fantasy world. Those aren't "facts", their unsourced and unproven allegations from a dipshit who'll basically do anything to defend his pet company.

You've got about as much credibility as your average vidgame console fanboy.

RPGPundit · June 06, 2007, 04:49:57 PM

Quote from: JongWKQuite frankly, the biggest problem is the financial drain that both WK and WotC face. I dont' think their parent companies would like to see this lawsuit dragging on for years.

Yeah, which is why I really don't think it will. I think this is wizkid's way of trying to put Wizards on the negotiating table so they can figure out a way of continuing their very successful game without being sued to death.

RPGPundit

KrakaJak · June 06, 2007, 09:02:39 PM

If what Pundit says in his Blog is right. Then Wizards is still ab bunch of bastards.

The guy who INVENTED the ConCG's company is being sued by the company he worked for that Patented his idea and then didn't do anything with it.

James J Skach · June 06, 2007, 10:35:29 PM

Yeah, unfortunately that's the way the world of business works...

I worked for Baxter for a while - as a consultant. On this project, I had this neat idea to apply a completely unrelated business standards to a blood process. They loved the idea so much, they made me sign an invention record so that Baxter would get any money. My name might be on any patent they would get, but that's about it.

Life's a bitch man...it was sign the paper and keep gettting paid nice consulting fees, or refuse and go start my own business doing my idea. Since I don't have the resources to do what Baxter was doing with my idea, I thought it was cool enough that my idea might just get patented...

KrakaJak · June 06, 2007, 10:39:31 PM

I bet WizKids get's out on Fair Use.

RPGPundit · June 07, 2007, 12:34:23 AM

Quote from: KrakaJakIf what Pundit says in his Blog is right. Then Wizards is still ab bunch of bastards.

The guy who INVENTED the ConCG's company is being sued by the company he worked for that Patented his idea and then didn't do anything with it.

You could argue its unfair, but its still the law. And really, it doesn't seem all that unfair to me.

Let's say you're a freelance writer. You get paid to do a sourcebook for a Sci-fi setting based in South America. For various reasons, your book never sees print. You get paid for it though, and later move on to another company.
Now, you could not just hand over the same manuscript to the other company; you were working for Company A, you can't get your book published by Company B when you were already paid for the material you handed in to Company A.
You were under contract, you provided material to Company A, you were paid for your intellectual efforts. What you wrote now belongs to Company A, end of story.

RPGPundit

beeber · June 07, 2007, 11:37:54 AM

i hope someone posts here how that mess all turns out, just for curiosity's sake. my group doesn't do the clicky thing or CSGs, and i still have my mad-on for wizards after the dragon mag debacle. i just want to see what the courts do (or don't, if there's a settlement) about the whole thing. :rolleyes: