Dungeons & Dragons Handbooks Subject Of Lawsuits

TIM KLASS

SEATTLE (AP) — Dungeons & Dragons & lawyers, oh my — eight people face accusations that 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. ...