So I know this deck has not generated much excitement and discussion on our boards but there has been legal issues for months now and the decks have been pushed back. I am copying the latest updates for those who might be interested in what's going on
Hey Team,
I know it's been a little bit since my last update. Between dealing with tax paperwork and our current legal dispute, sorting through PledgeManager, and continuing the post-campaign phases for two campaigns, April has been a rather hectic month. I hope that my delay in updates hasn't caused any undue concern; other than being extremely busy, there really hasn't been much news to report.
Legal Dispute Update
First things first, a status report on the legal dispute and resulting delay. My lawyer (Jerry) has been working hard on going over every detail of this dispute: For those of you who may have missed it, we are currently being held up on production by the legal department at the USPCC (our printer for the Bicycle decks) due to a trademark supposedly held by Fantasy Flight Games on the name "Elder Sign".
When I contacted Fantasy Flight Games to get their opinions on the matter, the FFG legal department told me that while they "support small time game publishers", they felt that our "Cthulhu: The Great Old One Bicycle Playing Card Deck - Elder Sign Limited Edition" violated their trademark. They offered to grant me a limited license to use the name so long as I followed a number of their provisions. They wanted me to keep the print run limited to 3,000 decks, which was already the case. They also wanted me to add their company's info on the tuck box, and say that the deck was under licensing agreement with them. The main sticking point was when they then informed me that as payment for the limited licensing agreement, I would have to send them 150 decks, free of charge.
You might well ask "Why not just agree to their terms and move on? It's only giving them credit for work they didn't do, and giving them some free decks!" I will be happy to explain what is at stake here. First, they have no real right to tie up a public domain phrase from Lovecraft's works as their own trademark; just because a trademark registrar allowed it to be filed doesn't make it right or legally indisputable. I could understand if we were trying in any way to reference their card game as somehow associated with our product, but that is simply and obviously not the case. They even agree that this is quite obviously not our intent, yet they still think to defend their stance on this matter, regardless of this fact.
Secondly, I do not think it prudent or acceptable to add another company's name to a product which they took no part in the design or creation thereof. They put forth nothing towards these decks, therefor they deserve no recognition from them.
Third, their charge of 150 decks is impossible to meet without taking decks from someone else's hands. Virtually all of the Elder Sign Limited Edition decks are pledged for, with perhaps 20 or 30 remaining for DKG to keep around. I would never ask a backer to give up their decks, especially for an undeserving third party.
Fourth, and most importantly, they have no case. Our Bicycle deck in no way crosses or violates any trademark they may hold, we have done nothing wrong, and so we will not be intimidated by a bigger company swinging around their well-funded, well-staffed legal department to get their way.
I would like to make clear that I have nothing against Fantasy Flight Games. I enjoy their games, and will continue to purchase their products whenever I see ones that I like. This is just one of the many parts of business which must be dealt with from time to time. I know it sucks to have to wait longer on getting the decks printed, believe me it affects me far more than you can imagine, but in the end, DKG has to be able to stand up for itself. Publishing games has been a lifetime dream, and I have spent the better part of a decade building a strong product line and growing a game publishing company to release my games. If we start allowing other companies with far more resources than we have to bully us around about our products and production, then we've lost before we even get our feet under us.
I know that delaying fulfillment by a few months is not great, believe me I want to see these decks at least as much as you do! This delay has cost me substantial amounts of time, significant money out of my own pocket, devastating setbacks in my production and planned release schedules, and more stress and sleepless nights than I care to go into. Mind you, I'm not seeking any pity here, I just always want to give you guys my absolute best, and I feel like this situation has prevented that from happening. You all mean the world to me, and when stuff like this happens, I feel like I've let you all down, and that just crushes me. I only hope that you can forgive this unforeseeable situation, and that we can all feel that much more triumphant once we all have our decks in hand.
So, where do we stand legally? I was hoping that Jerry would have sent the official letter by now, but lawyers have a way of taking their time with things. In law, I guess it pays to be meticulous, but also to be fair, Jerry's been dealing with some other difficult big-time cases, a 7-months-pregnant wife, and an unpleasant car accident resulting in his severe physical discomfort, so I can certainly be forgiving of his taking some time in this matter. That being said, I will try to explain our legal position in the layman's terms he used to explain it to me. Please keep in mind that I will have to paraphrase it all, as I'm unfamiliar with lawyer jargon, and I may mis-state something that he could explain much more accurately. From his research, we are not violating any trademarks on three seperate positions:
#1 Common Usage - When most people hear the phrase "Elder Sign", they do not think "Oh, that game by FFG". They think of Lovecraft's writings. The phrase is significantly in common use, both in printed press, online, and in various other forms of media. FFG themselves use the phrase BECAUSE of its direct reference to the writings of H.P. Lovecraft.
#2 Category - FFG is trying to claim that our product is in the same category as their game, thus saying that our product could be mistaken for being a part of their product. Even assuming you could classify a deck of standard playing cards as a "card game" since there are lots of games you could play with them, their product has a number of different card sets, and relies heavily on custom dice. There is no feasible way that our deck of playing cards could be misunderstood to be their product.
#3 Dilution - Even if we were to ignore the first two points, the third big point is that FFG is a major scale corporation, shipping thousands upon thousands of units internationally. Our extremely limited quantity of promotional decks in a one-time print run in no way dilutes the value, perceived value, or sales potential of their product. Printing these decks in no way negatively impacts their bottom line, and so again, we violate no trademark in printing these decks.
Again, this is my layman's understanding of the situation. Once Jerry writes up the official letter for me to send to USPCC and FFG, I will post a link to it so that those of you who wish to know our stance more officially can check it out at your leisure. I am doing everything I can to get this matter wrapped up as quickly as possible, and again, apologize for the delays from the very depths of my heart.
Production Update
Decks - Once we clear up this legal dispute (hopefully in the next week or two), we can proceed with production. Once production begins, Tiffany from USPCC assures me she will do everything in her power to get things moved along as quickly as possible. Allowing for possible production issues, printing and shipping the decks to DKG should take 6 to 8 weeks once production begins.
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