Dragonlance What Happened To The New DRAGONLANCE Trilogy?

[darjr]

This is a bit confusing because it seems it was WoTCs in-house attorney that put forth the no breach but no further drafts argument. It's HIGHLY unlikely that they attorney would do that without approval from his client!

Am I reading that wrong?

I think you are. Attorneys don’t make those kinds of decisions.

 

[Mort]

I think you are. Attorneys don’t make those kinds of decisions.

Right it says:

At that telephonic meeting, without any forewarning, Defendant’s attorney (Mr. Mitchell) stated Defendant refused to perform under the License Agreement, effectively terminating the agreement unilaterally.


Mr. Mitchell, the attorney, made the statement.
Defendant here is WoTC, right? So he had to have had direction from them. Or was he acting under the direction of "one guy..." Who's no longer there?

 

[darjr]

He was speaking on behalf of the Defendant, Mr Kelman, representing management of WotC, the Defendants.

Note also that the authors were ALREADY making changes per WotC and Mr Kelman's requests. They were working together and making progress, together.

 

[ECMO3]

Ever wonder why the wierd “no more draft approvals” tactic? WotC has buried expensive things before like that supplement some folks wrongly think WotC “promised” us. Why go about such a wierd way to stop the publication? Do you really think this cost to end the contract would have driven WotC to do these shenanigans? I dont think so.

Because Weiss and Hickman were due royalties for sales. WOTC would have to pay them for sales that never happened if they wanted to settle. This would be a huge cost.

Their "no more draft approvals" was their silly way to try to skirt contract breach - No you can still write the novels but we are not going to approve any of the drafts for publication.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Ok, all I'll say to this is just because he was alone on this call, doesn't mean no one else knew... I have plenty of calls where I need to tell a client/partner some new step, where I had a strategy meeting with coworkers before-hand deciding on that step. It would be very weird if this person was unilaterally making this decision without coworkers approval (or at least, acceptance).

Not if you thought your co-workers where wrong. Then you do your best to keep them out of the loop, and have to resign when you get found out.

Maybe shenanigans of this sort are less common in your line of work.

 

[darjr]

Because Weiss and Hickman were due royalties for sales. WOTC would have to pay them for sales that never happened if they wanted to settle. This would be a huge cost.

Their "no more draft approvals" was their silly way to try to skirt contract breach - No you can still write the novels but we are not going to approve any of the drafts for publication.

I don't think any guarantee of royalties were in the contract? Or any for breaking it via the means laid out in the contract? Have you seen the contract?

 

[Dire Bare]

I don't think any guarantee of royalties were in the contract? Or any for breaking it via the means laid out in the contract? Have you seen the contract?

Have you? @ECMO3's posts line up with my recollection of the news on ENWorld about the legal scuffle between W&H and WotC.

 

[Urriak Uruk]

Not if you thought your co-workers where wrong. Then you do your best to keep them out of the loop, and have to resign when you get found out.

Maybe shenanigans of this sort are less common in your line of work.

For something of this magnitude, the man would have to be a colossal moron to have done this without telling anyone (you can't exactly keep it a secret!). So unless there's some actual proof that he did this alone (and being on a call alone doesn't mean anything) this is hard to believe.

Anyway, I've been arguing ad nauseum about something that honestly doesn't matter much. I was just trying to point out that when "poop hits the fan," a big company usually assigns one person the role of fall-guy to take heat off, even though it's rarely solely one guy's responsibility.

 

[darjr]

Have you? @ECMO3's posts line up with my recollection of the news on ENWorld about the legal scuffle between W&H and WotC.

No and I dint believe he has either.

But the text in the lawsuit doesn’t say anything about what WotC would owe the authors of the followed the contract to step away from it.

Those millions are the damages asked for IN the lawsuit.

 

[Azzy]

For something of this magnitude, the man would have to be a colossal moron to have done this without telling anyone (you can't exactly keep it a secret!). So unless there's some actual proof that he did this alone (and being on a call alone doesn't mean anything) this is hard to believe.

Well, the guy is a pedo apologist, so the colossal moron part may be true.