Palladium Books v. Trion Worlds Inc. Rifts Trademark Case Resolved!

Update: The judge signed the order today. The case is dismissed!

After months of wrangling, the trademark case between Trion Worlds Inc. and Palladium Books is effectively over. For those just joining this legal party, Palladium Books sued Trion Worlds Inc. over its use of the term “Rift” in the new MMORPG “Rift: Plane of Telara.”  Trion Worlds counter-sued.  You can read the story from the beginning by starting from my first post on the issue.   Today, Trion Worlds Inc. and Palladium Books submitted a “Joint Stipulation of Dismissal” to the federal court.  Here is the full text of the very short filing.

Pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 41(a)(1), the parties to the above action hereby stipulate that this action and all claims and counterclaims should be dismissed with prejudice, with the parties to bear their own fees and costs.

Assuming the judge approves, this will end the lawsuit.  Since both parties requested the dismissal, I find it highly likely that the court will approve. I am very curious about what the final settlement entails. Since there is no more lawsuit, whatever negotiations took place between the parties is likely to stay secret forever. I expect some press releases from both parties after the judge signs off on the dismissal. I will keep you apprised if I hear anything.

Trask, The Last Tyromancer

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trask

Trask is a long-time gamer, world traveler and history buff. He hopes that his scribblings will both inform and advance gaming as a hobby.

9 thoughts on “Palladium Books v. Trion Worlds Inc. Rifts Trademark Case Resolved!

  • October 26, 2010 at 9:59 am
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    I’m suing you over the use of the term Tyromancer…and the word “The”… 😉

    • October 26, 2010 at 10:40 am
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      Sigh…at least I have the names of some law firms. 🙂

      Trask

  • October 26, 2010 at 2:55 pm
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    I’d say it was a triumph of common sense over the legal system, but if there’d been any common sense in the first place the suits would never have been taken out.

  • October 26, 2010 at 4:35 pm
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    Well, color me surprised… Siembieda (sp?) had a better chance of crushing the moon with his bare hands than he did of winning this case. I’m pretty sure he was just after a settlement in the first place, since that seems to be the only way he can actually keep his business up and running, rather than the normal method of, you know, selling products. But, that requires that you make products people actually want to buy…

    • November 1, 2010 at 3:58 am
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      Trion was just picking a fight trying to bankrupt Paladium. I found it odd that at the end of the last court appearance they demanded $550,000 if they lost

  • Pingback:Trion Worlds v. Palladium lawsuit draws to a close | Game Design U

  • December 4, 2010 at 11:10 pm
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    Let’s see R:PoT took the name of the game and took the basic idea for the plot and characters.

    Sounds like a rip off to me!

    I don’t care who won or lost the suit, R:PoT should be ashamed of themselves, name your uncreative, lackluster game something else and make it about something else. Come up with your own ideas. Or don’t and put out a popular, yet awful product that anyone who actually cares about games should despise.

    And no I don’t work for Palladium and their finanical situation has nothing to do with what IP is or isn’t. Also, what about integrity? I guess that’s not legally definied so it must not exist!

  • March 1, 2011 at 1:09 pm
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    I’ve never downloaded a game just to NOT play it and UPLOAD it for others, but that is what I’m going to do with “Rift.” In my opinion Trion has ruined the possibility of a real Rifts game in the future.

    • April 25, 2011 at 11:38 pm
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      You can’t upload Rift since it’s a MMO. Nice try, pirate.

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