The company claims the digital card game infringed on multiple patents and copyrights

May 15, 2014 15:45 GMT  ·  By

Wizards of the Coast, a subsidiary of the multinational toy and board game company Hasbro, and publishers of some of the core elements of geek culture, Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons, has filed a lawsuit against Cryptozoic and Hex Entertainment over the upcoming card game Hex: Shards of Fate.

"Hasbro and Wizards of the Coast vigorously protect our intellectual property. This infringement suit against Cryptozoic demonstrates that while we appreciate a robust and thriving trading card game industry, we will not permit the misappropriation of our intellectual property. We attempted to resolve this issue, but Cryptozoic was unwilling to settle the matter," says Barbara Finigan, senior vice president and General Counsel of Hasbro.

The lawsuit claims that the upcoming card game contains multiple instances of infringement, including copyright, patent and trade dress.

The official announcement from Wizards of the Coast claims that Cryptozoic's digital card game Hex: Shards of Fate is "a clone" of their collectible trading card game Magic: The Gathering, and its digital expressions, Magic Online and Magic: The Gathering – Duels of the Planeswalkers.

Hex: Shards of Fate has seen a very successful Kickstarter campaign, ranking 12th in the most funded category for games on the popular crowdfunding platform, and it is currently in closed beta.