Our report on the GAMA board's decision not to enforce the membership's resolution to ban Internet discounters from the floor of Origins (see 'GAMA To Allow Internet Discounters at Origins') has generated considerable response, including this retailer's suggestion that board members that don't want to enforce the resolution resign (see 'Gabriel Vega of Name of the Game on Discoutners at Origins'), and these responses explaining the decision from GAMA board member Mike Webb (see 'Mike Webb of Alliance Games on Discounters at Origins') and GAMA President Rick Loomis ('GAMA President Responds on Discounters'). Now it's come full circle, as WizKids Executive Vice President Martin Stever, who introduced the resolution in the first place, weighs in expressing his frustration with the situation.
This issue is very frustrating for me personally. As the guy who brought the motion before the GAMA membership, it's clearly important to me and to WizKids. We feel discounters undermine fixed retail location shops. We feel these discounters should NOT have the opportunity to market themselves at Origins, one of the country's two premiere gaming conventions.
When I brought the motion to exclude Internet discounters before the GAMA membership, it was no surprise. I had provided the motion to the board for review well before the actual meeting. Rick Loomis said at the meeting that the motion had been reviewed by legal counsel and deemed acceptable and legal. As someone who has been professionally involved with trade shows about 20 years, I agree with this legal assessment. When you are running a show, the people exhibiting on the floor are part of 'the product.' As the owner of a show, you have every legal right to determine who will be a part of 'the product.'
One month ago, while at the Essen Game Fair, I was informed that the GAMA board had sought out a second legal opinion on excluding discounters. I was told this second legal opinion ran contrary to the initial opinion. It's my belief the second opinion is wrong. I'm not a lawyer, although I do have experience in this area. I recall that while at Capital City Distribution we had one or two occasions when we turned down applications to exhibit at the Capital City trade show, and we were threatened with lawsuits. Our lawyers assured us we were not in legal peril, and no lawsuit or legal challenge was ever brought. There were simply no grounds for a valid legal claim.
I offered to have the legal opinions received by GAMA reviewed by WizKids legal counsel, at WizKids' expense, in order to figure out which of the two opinions the GAMA board received was the correct interpretation of the law. [GAMA President] Rick Loomis told me that he didn't know if he could share the opinion with me as it was confidential communication between an attorney and a client. This rationale for not sharing the information with the membership doesn't make sense to us. Both lawyers' interpretations of the law should be shared with the membership. If the second lawyer is correct, then the GAMA membership did our best to stop an abhorrent use of the marketing opportunity presented by a great show, Origins, and as Dickens said 'the law is a ass.' If the second lawyer is wrong, which we believe he is, that should be brought to light as quickly as possible.