‘People are leaving the game’: Dungeons & Dragons fans revolt against new restrictions; The Guardian, January 13, 2023

 Alaina Demopoulos, The Guardian; ‘People are leaving the game’: Dungeons & Dragons fans revolt against new restrictions

"It’s been a tough week for Dungeons & Dragons fans.

The reins were pulled in on users who come up with their own storylines and new characters, creating legions of imaginary worlds that spin off of the original fantasy roleplaying game. They have also been able to make and sell products required to play or based on the game under an open game license (OGL) agreement.

But as Gizmodo first reported, a leaked new agreement drafted by Wizards of the Coast (WoTC), the Hasbro subsidiary that owns D&D, threatens to “tighten” the OGL that has been in place since the early 2000s. It would grantWoTC the ability to “make money off of these products without paying the person who made it” and companies that make over $750,000 will have to start paying Hasbro a 25% cut of their earnings."

Game of Life Copyright Dispute Meets 'Day of Reckoning'; Law.com, January 30, 2019

Scott Graham, Law.com; Game of Life Copyright Dispute Meets 'Day of Reckoning'

"Markham died in 1993. His heirs sued in 2015, invoking a provision of the Copyright Act of 1976 that allows authors to terminate licenses after 56 years in certain circumstances.

But that provision excludes works for hire, and Smith concluded that the Game of Life is a work for hire that was commissioned by Klamer and produced by Markham’s company. “The weight of the evidence in this case is that the success that met the Game of Life was, in fact, nothing if not the result of collective effort,” Smith concluded. “And although the credit, in the colloquial sense, can be split pro rata, the law dictates that the copyrights cannot be.”"

Play-Doh Scent Registration May Serve As Trademark Model; Bloomberg Law, June 20, 2018

Anandashankar Mazumdar, Bloomberg Law; Play-Doh Scent Registration May Serve As Trademark Model

"Trademark attorneys usually handle registrations online. But the lawyer for toy maker Hasbro Inc. faced a problem that no computer could solve.

Lawyer Catherine M.C. Farrelly was trying to get a trademark registration for the iconic scent of Play-Doh, the modeling compound that has been sold as a children’s toy since 1956. The Patent and Trademark Office requires a specimen of any trademark, so the scent had to be sent. Farrelly, of Frankfurt, Kurnit, Klein & Selz PC, New York, told Bloomberg Law that she sent the application in February 2017 with a note that a box of Play-Doh was on its way by overnight delivery.

Hasbro Inc.’s success in getting a trademark registration in May 2018 for the smell of Play-Doh might serve as a model for lawyers tasked with securing aroma-related trademarks, trademark lawyers told Bloomberg Law."

Hasbro trademarks Play-Doh's distinctive "sweet, slightly musky" scent; CBS, May 18, 2018

CBS; Hasbro trademarks Play-Doh's distinctive "sweet, slightly musky" scent

"Hasbro has trademarked the scent of Play-Doh. The toy company on Friday announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has recognized Play-Doh's distinctive smell with a registered trademark, something rarely issued for a scent."

Toy giant Hasbro is trying to trademark the smell of Play-Doh; Independent, March 1, 2017

John Wadsworth, Independent; 

Toy giant Hasbro is trying to trademark the smell of Play-Doh

"While it is rare for smells to be successfully trademarked in the US, it is not unheard of. According to Mr Curtis, the first was a flowery scent used on yarn, registered in 1990.

Mr Curtis added that it is near impossible to trademark smells in the UK and EU, due to the difficulty of proving members of the public share recognition of a particular scent.

“What is a smell? How do you describe it? A smell is subtly different to different people,” he said."