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Two Dungeons & Dragons pirates settle suits

18 October 2009 18:58 by Andre "DVDBack23" Yoskowitz | 9 comments

In April, Wizards of the Coast sued 8 alleged file sharers over copyright infringement for unauthorized sharing of the then newly introduced Dungeons & Dragons Player�s Handbook 2.

The lawsuits claimed the Handbook was illegally shared on file-sharing websites and the many downloads of the unauthorized copies led to lost sales and lost revenue for the company.

This week, two of the eight accused have settled with Wizards, and the company is seeking a default judgment against one more of the accused.

Thomas Patrick Nolan of Florida settled for $125,000 USD and Arthur Le of California settled for $100,000, says Komo. Le's co-defendant, Mike Becker of Oklahoma, was ordered to pay $30,000 in damages and almost $15,000 in legal fees but has so far not responded to the lawsuit and remains in default. Wizards is hoping to collect that money.

Two other cases, against Stefan Osmena of the Philippines and Krysztof Radzikowski of Poland, remain pending, while the three other defendants still remain unknown, most likely because Wizards is having trouble prosecuting the non-American defendants.

The "Player's Handbook 2" retails for $40 USD and includes 242 pages of rules for the game Dungeons & Dragons. The online version has electronic watermarks specifically restricting the material to the person who purchased it.

Wizards says 2600 copies were downloaded from Scribd.com and another 4200 copies were viewed online before it was taken down by request from the copyright holder.

Permalink to this article | Topic: Lawsuits & Legislation

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cart0181 (Junior Member) 18 October 2009 20:07
Now that is just an a-hole thing to do. Pirating Hollywood movies is one thing, but with the countless hours of imaginative enjoyment that can be had for a mere $40, pirating a D&D book is a new low. I say shame on all those involved. Shame, Shame, Shame. [ + quote]
windsong (Junior Member) 18 October 2009 20:47
a MERE 40 bucks?! Bwahahahaha!! Thanks for that laugh. [ + quote]
besthd2 (Inactive) 18 October 2009 20:57
edited by ddp [ + quote] This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 18 October 2009 22:19
hytrade (Inactive) 19 October 2009 4:41
SPAM removed [ + quote] This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 19 October 2009 10:02
xboxdvl2 (Member) 19 October 2009 7:08
so if you had the book and re-wrote it in your own words would it still be breach of copyright??? $40 is a lot of money for a book.i pay less than that for Ps2 games brand new. P3 750mhz lite on 16X dvd burner 256DDR sig compiled by Phantom69 [ + quote]
o0cynix0o (Junior Member) 19 October 2009 13:21
People still play this game??? [ + quote]
ThePastor (Junior Member) 19 October 2009 13:58
Gygax is dead... who the hell is Wizards of the Coast??? (Still have my original Players handbook hidden away in a box in the attic somewhere) [ + quote]
o0cynix0o (Junior Member) 20 October 2009 20:46
*Originally posted by ThePastor:* Gygax is dead... who the hell is Wizards of the Coast??? (Still have my original Players handbook hidden away in a box in the attic somewhere) As do I. WoTC took over years ago. and tried to revamp the game with cards and glass dots...how lame. [ + quote]
cart0181 (Junior Member) 29 October 2009 22:58
Wow, you guys are broke. I feel sorry for you, maybe you should go steal the D&D books. If you think about it, a D&D book can give you probably EASILY 100+++ hours of enjoyment. Divide that by the price and you get pennies on the hour. Compare that to most any other activity you do for enjoyment, and it is nothing. [ + quote]