Several sources today reported that Wizards of the Coast (a Hasbro subsidiary) accuses Nintendo of abandoning a contract. In addition, the lawsuit names two ex-Wizards of the Coast executives who were hired to Pokémon USA, and accuses them of revealing trade secrets.

In 1998, Wizards of the Coast signed an agreement with Nintendo to manufacture and distribute a Pokémon trading card game. However, in 2002, Pokémon USA hired Wizards of the Coast's Senior Vice President, Richard Arons and a Vice President, Rene Flores. In addition to Arons and Flores, several other Wizards of the Coast executives went to work for Pokémon USA.

Following these incidents, in March 2003 Pokémon USA refused to allow Wizards of the Coast to release the Jamboree and Legendary II expansion sets for the Pokemon Gold & Silver edition. This was Wizards of the Coast had invested time and money into developing the expansion sets. To add insult to injury, Pokémon USA then told Wizards of the Coast that they had not been chosen to manufacture and distribute a RubySapphire edition of the Pokémon trading card game; Pokémon USA began to produce it themselves, using methods Wizards of the Coast says are proprietary to them.

The lawsuit against Nintendo of America also accuses Pokémon USA of offering to approve release of the Legendary II set, but only if Wizards of the Coast agreed to provide free marketing support and reveal confidential information about trading card game tournament players. Wizards of the Coast Refused, and once their last set of contracts expired at the end of last month, they filed suit.

In a Wizards of the Coast written statement, it was said that, "Wizards of the Coast has built tremendous brand equity over the years with our popular proprietary trading-card games and aggressively seeks to protect its valuable intellectual property and trade secrets." Pokémon USA in a written statement says, "We were sued the day after our distribution agreement with Wizards ended. We are confident that we've acted both legally and fairly with respect to Wizards and believe the issues will be resolved."

We will have more on this case as it breaks!