Dungeons & Dragons Handbooks Subject Of Lawsuits

TIM KLASS

SEATTLE (AP) — Dungeons & Dragons & lawyers, oh my — eight people face accusations they illegally posted the pioneering role-playing game's newest handbook for download on the Internet.

Wizards of the Coast LLC, a subsidiary of Hasbro Inc., is seeking unspecified damages in three copyright infringement lawsuits naming a total of eight defendants in U.S. District Court in Seattle.

More than 2,600 copes of "Player's Handbook 2," released March 17 with a suggested retail price of $39.95 a copy, were downloaded from Scribd.com, and more than 4,200 copies were viewed online before the material was pulled from the document-sharing site at Wizards' request, according to two of the lawsuits.

One of those cases, which names as defendants Thomas Patrick Nolan of Milton, Fla., and Stefan Osmena of the Philippines, is headed for mediation, according to a court filing Tuesday.

Another case is against Mike Becker of Bartlesville, Okla., and Arthur Le of San Jose, Calif.

The third, filed against Krysztof Radzikowski of Poland and three people whose identities remain unknown, did not cite any numbers but asserted that unauthorized copies of that handbook and "Manual of the Planes," ''Open Grave: Secrets of the Undead" and "Dungeon Delve," each retailing for $29.95, also were found on document-sharing Web sites.