Hasbro sues Atari over D&D licensing

PROVIDENCE – Atari SA said toy maker Hasbro Inc. is trying to “unfairly take back rights” for the Dungeons & Dragons video game through a lawsuit, Bloomberg News reported.
Hasbro sued Atari last week, alleging fraud and five different breaches of their licensing agreement for the Dungeons & Dragons brand. Atari called the allegations “meritless” in a statement.
In its lawsuit, Hasbro said it learned that Atari may have entered into an unauthorized sublicensing agreement for the digital game rights to Dungeons & Dragons with Namco Bandai Partners, a competitor of Pawtucket-based Hasbro.
Wayne Charness, a Hasbro spokesman, said the company has no comment on Atari’s statement.
Hasbro also has a venture with video game company Electronic Arts Inc. for digital game rights to some other Hasbro properties, according to Hasbro’s Web site.
The case is Hasbro Inc. v. Infogrames Entertainment SA a/k/a Atari SA, 09-00610, U.S. District Court, District of Rhode Island. &#8226