Hasbro Files Complaint Against Atari Over D&D

In case you missed it, Turbine filed a lawsuit against Atari in August "to recover in excess of $30 million in losses occasioned by Atari's breach and wrongful conduct." Well, it looks like Atari's been hit once again with more legal woes; Hasbro just filed a complaint against Atari "alleging fraud and five different breaches of their licensing agreement for the Dungeons & Dragons brand."

Turbine alleged in its lawsuit that Atari is working on its own Dungeons & Dragons MMO, which is rumored to be a Neverwinter Nights MMO developed by Cryptic Studios. Hasbro is seeking compensatory damages and a termination of Atari's licensing agreement, which certainly puts the future of the suspected Neverwinter Nights game in question.

You can read the full press release regarding Hasbro's complaint after the jump.

December 16, 2009 (Pawtucket, RI) - Hasbro, Inc. today filed a complaint in the District Court of Rhode Island against Infogrames Entertainment S.A, a.k.a Atari, S.A., alleging fraud and five different breaches of their licensing agreement for the Dungeons & Dragons brand.

Dungeons & Dragons is owned by Hasbro’s wholly-owned subsidiary Wizards of the Coast, who discovered earlier this year that Atari may have entered into an unauthorized sublicensing relationship with Namco Bandai Partners (NBP) for the Dungeons & Dragons digital game rights. NBP is a competitor for both Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro, and such an agreement is prohibited under the contract between Hasbro and Atari.

“While unfortunate that we had to take this action, it is crucial for us to protect the Dungeons & Dragons brand,” said Greg Leeds, President of Wizards of the Coast. “We have been working for several months now to reach resolution with Atari, and they have left us with no other choice than to pursue legal action.”

Hasbro is seeking compensatory damages for economic losses suffered as well as a termination of the licensing agreement.

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