eGames, which continues to be a prominent figure among the defendants fighting Hasbro, has filed a counter-suit. Debris/3D Astro-Blaster creator David Snyder has this to say about the countersuit: Several months ago Hasbro sent a letter to retailers and distributors urging them not to sell Egames'' products. They called the products "illegal" and in not too subtle terms implied that anyone selling them would be facing legal action. I have known about this letter since early February, but I was asked by Egames not to discuss it. Incredibly, Hasbro sent this letter without ever running it by their outside counsel, Kim Landsman, who has been handling their IP cases for several years now. When Egames'' attorneys notified him about the letter in preparation for Egames'' filing of the counter suit, that was the first that Landsman had heard of it, and he seemed quite surprised and not terribly happy about it. Now, it is ok for a company to send a letter notifying customers of pending litigation. However, to call a competitors'' products "illegal" and to imply that anyone selling them is risking legal action treads very close to what is known as "tortious interference" with contractual relationships between the competitor and their customers. There is a fine line between disseminating information and attempting illegally to undercut competitors with customers. The court will decide if Hasbro crossed the line. My attorney said that he believed that the letter was utterly foolish on Hasbro''s part and that he couldn''t believe that any attorney would authorize it, even an in-house attorney. It is also true that Egames has an exclusive distribution contract with the Rite Aid drug store chain. Interestingly, as far as I know, Hasbro attempted to get a direct distribution deal with Rite Aid, was told they would have to go through Egames, and shortly thereafter sent the letter to retailers and distributors, including Rite Aid. I suppose everyone can decide for themselves whether the timing was coincidence or deliberate. I don''t know what the damages would be if Hasbro is found liable. However, I do know that Egames believes that the letter caused some retailers to return Egames'' titles, that Egames suffered a quarterly loss primarily as a result, and that their stock price dropped. Treble damages are possible in such a situation, which makes the claim that damages could be as high as $20-30 million plausible.

Hasbro is sure one mean assed company!