Hasbro Acquires Trivial Pursui

On March 31, 2008, Hasbro, Inc. announced the purchase of all of the intellectual property rights related to the Trivial Pursuit brand from Horn Abbot Ltd. and Horn Abbot International Limited. Prior to the transaction, Hasbro developed, marketed and sold Trivial Pursuit under license from the Horn Abbot companies since 1991. Plans have been made to extend the Trivial Pursuit brand into a new television game show this fall called “Trivial Pursuit: America Plays,” expected to debut in September 2008.

Hasbro was represented in-house by Vice President Tarrant Sibley, Kevin Healy, Head of Business and Legal Affairs, and Director of Intellectual Properties, Paul Vanasse; and by Stikeman Elliott LLP, with a team that included Michel Gélinas, Christopher Dye, Nathalie Mercure and Christine Bergeron (corporate), Stuart McCormack, Vivien Tzau and Alexandra Stockwell (intellectual property), Luc Bernier and Marc-André Bélanger (tax) and Stephen Hamilton (competition), as well as Lex Caribbean with a team comprised of Diana Wilson-Patrick and Alana Goodman. Edward G. Black and Yvette J. Liebesman of Ropes & Gray LLP provided US intellectual property advice to Hasbro.

Horn Abbot was represented by Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, with a team that included Terry Burgoyne, Adam Grabowski and David Vernon, and with respect to intellectual property matters by James Ryther of DLA Piper, James Carson of Blaney McMurtry LLP and David Latham and David Taylor of Lovells LLP.