The appeals court ruling last summer affirmed the district court rulings giving Dee and Herman the copyright to the RPG and awarding Bizar $52,300 for defamation and commercial disparagement. The district court is to rule on the amount of damages Bizar owes the creators for copyright infringement (for the Villains and Vigilantes products he sold), and on the question of who owns the trademark and whether any damages are due as a result (see "'V&V' Creators Win Copyright on Appeal").
On February 1, 2016, the district court judge is to resolve any open issues related to discovery, with any additional discovery to follow quickly on an expedited basis. Trial is set to begin on April 18, 2016. The parties have waived a jury trial; the case will be heard by the federal district court judge with the trial expected to last four to five days.
Although previous attempts at alternate dispute resolution were unsuccessful, the parties have agreed to try again based on the results of the appeals court ruling, with a settlement conference with a judge scheduled for January 11, 2016.
Dee & Herman’s GoFundMe campaign has raised over $11,000 as of this writing, about a month since the beginning of the campaign, out of a $50,000 total target. Premiums for donations include PDFs of the upcoming new edition of Villains & Vigilantes, a limited edition figure, and online game sessions with the creators. Numerous game and comic creators have contributed to the campaign.
Dee & Herman are working on Villains & Vigilantes 3.0, with a release date to be scheduled pending resolution of the litigation.
