D&D maker sues over web download

Eight people face accusations they illegally posted the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons' newest handbook for download on the internet.

Wizards of the Coast, a subsidiary of Hasbro, is seeking unspecified damages in three copyright infringement lawsuits naming eight defendants.

More than 2600 copes of Player's Handbook 2, released on March 17 with a suggested retail price of $39.95 a copy were downloaded from Scribd.com, and more than 4200 copies were viewed online before the material was pulled from the document-sharing site at Wizards' request.

Dungeons & Dragons was created in 1974. According to the lawsuits about 20 million people worldwide are believe to have played the game.

The handbook, which includes 242 pages of rules, and manuals sold online bear electronic watermarks that restrict use of copyright material to a specific buyer or user.