Eight people face accusations that they illegally posted the pioneering role-playing game’s newest handbook for download on the Internet, and Wizards of the Coast is seeking unspecified damages in three copyright infringement lawsuits. The handbook, which includes 242 pages of rules, and manuals, sold online and bears electronic watermarks that restrict use of copyright material to a specific buyer or user.

More than 2,600 copies of “Player’s Handbook 2,” released March 17 with a suggested retail price of $39.95 a copy, were downloaded from Scribd.com, and more than 4,200 copies were viewed online before the material was pulled from the document-sharing site at Wizards’ request. One of these cases, names as defendants Thomas Patrick Nolan of Milton, Fla., and Stefan Osmena of the Philippines.

Nolan, representing himself in the case, denies that he uploaded the handbook for public access or committed other wrongdoing. He wrote personally to the court on May 20 that he lost his wallet with material showing his Web site usernames and passwords on a trip to Michigan in February. “Any person who looked at my Scribd page could tell that I was an avid Dungeons & Dragons player and could use the page to post the file,” he added.

Source: AP