Jim Ward has mentioned this a few times over the years. I saved this post in FB, but then couldn’t find it when I wanted it, so I am posting it here.

In his own words below, TSR did not remove the Cthulhu & Melnibone pantheons due to copyright infringement.

Both Wikipedia and The Acaeum have a different version of events.

Deities & Demigods
I’m going to print this out once a year for the rest of my years. I absolutely hate it when ignorant people say TSR/me acted in copyright infringement for the Melnibonean and Lovecraft sections of the book.

When I was given the assignment for that book I listed the various pantheons that I wanted to use. Gary noted that maybe the Lovecraft and Elric sections might be a problem. He gave me the Arkham House and Michael Morcock addresses and I immediately wrote them explaining what I was doing and asking for their permission to include their material. Wonder of wonders I got two letters back giving me permission to use their work. I foolishly gave those two letters to the lawyers at TSR. They might still be in some lost file at Wizards. I would kill for them now.

Anyway we printed up the book and it sold great. We then got a cease and desist letter from Chaosium. I don’t blame them a bit, however they didn’t know about the two letters. TSR would have won a court case hands down. However, the company wasn’t rich at that point and Brian Blume didn’t want to go to California, get a California lawyer, and spend time and money winning the case.

I went nuts because I had done way more than I was supposed to in clearing the way for those two licenses used in the book I wrote. I even offered to write two more pantheons free of charge, but the Blumes didn’t want to bother. I fumed for years.

Now, when people talk on line about TSR in copyright violation it presses my maximum angry button. Maybe some of my facebook friends can pass along this word as time goes on so that my blood pressure levels can stay in the normal range.

Now this might seem like a rant and it is. However, when people say TSR was in infringement they are calling me a plagiarizer. I consider myself a very honorable man. I would never, ever steal material that was not my own. I will not put up with that moniker. Thanks for listening.

Here is the link and a screenshot of the post for documentation purposes.

[UPDATE] A few hours after I posted this article and shared to various social media, the following comment appeared in James Ward’s linked Facebook post.

Rick Meints James Ward: I am the current President of Chaosium. I spoke with Greg Stafford, the former President of Chaosium, about the events surrounding the first edition of Deities and Demigods on a number of occasions. Greg and I know the following: You were acting in good faith and did not plagiarize the Cthulhu or Melnibonean material. We consider you an honorable man.

Here is a screenshot of this post: