Hasbro in dispute with Atari over Dungeons and Dragons

Toy titan Hasbro is asking a US court to slam Atari for letting game industry rival Namco Bandai play with Dungeons and Dragons (D&D).

Hasbro is accusing Atari of sublicensing D&D role playing game handling rights in Europe to Namco Bandai without its approval and giving confidential information to the Japanese competitor in the process.

"Hasbro has resorted to these meritless allegations, in an apparent attempt to unfairly take back rights granted to Atari," Atari said Thursday in a release.

"We regret that our long-time partner has decided to pursue this action. Atari will respond appropriately through its legal counsel in court."

Hasbro filed its suit on Wednesday in federal court in the US state of Rhode Island where the company is based.

Hasbro is asking the court to terminate its D&D licensing deal with Atari and make the company pay cash damages along with Hasbro's legal costs.

Hasbro also wants an accounting of any profit Atari or Namco Bandai made from a D&D deal.

D&D has become a globally popular role-playing game since it was launched in 1974.

Atari maintained that it has "a long and rich history" with D&D and has invested millions of dollars in the franchise to Hasbro's benefit.

Hasbro charged that earlier this year France-based Atari sub-licensed to Namco Bandai rights to distribute and support digital versions of D&D games and concealed the fact from Hasbro, which owns the worldwide licensing rights.