Entertainment monster Warner Bros therefore the property of the belated high-fantasy writer JRR Tolkien reach an out-of-court settlement in a long-running appropriate dispute between the two parties that erupted on the online slot game Lord of the Rings.
Warner Bros plus the estate of JRR Tolkien have settled their mutual lawsuits out of court this week, but terms were maybe not disclosed.
Tolkien’s heirs had sued WB in 2012 for copyright infringement, after getting a spam e-mail alerting them to the existence of Microgaming’s The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring online slot. The $80 million lawsuit advertised the film studio had unlawfully exploited its merchandising liberties by licensing such products.
Tolkien granted those rights to United Artists back in 1969, but their estate claims this entitled the studio to license only ‘tangible personal property’ according to the books, such as ‘figurines, tableware, fixed items, clothes and so on.’
The property failed to grant the creation of digital and gaming product, it claims, which it has branded ‘highly offensive.’
Warner Bros is UA’s distributor, and also distributes The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings film trilogies through its subsidiary, brand New Line Cinema.
Studio Countersues
‘Fans have publicly expressed confusion and consternation at seeing The Lord of the Rings associated with the morally that are questionable decided Weiterlesen