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LoTR Lawsuit Threatens Hobbit Production
eyrieowl writes "J.R.R.'s heirs are suing for royalties on the LoTR films. Apparently they haven't gotten any money due to some creative accounting. Peter Jackson ought to understand...he had to sue the studio for much the same reason.
As for The Hobbit? FTFA: 'Tolkien's family and a British charity they head, the Tolkien Trust, seek more than $220 million in compensation...[and]...the option to terminate further rights to the author's work.'"
"extended copyright might kill another production"
No, its the greedy, self serving, money grabbing, Narcissistic, control freaks who so often seek powerful jobs in big companies like Time Warner who are to blame (as usual). Their Narcissistic self interest at the expense of others forces people to finally take action against this kind of unfair treatment. They have tried for years to get some kind of fairness out of Time Warner.
There are 10 kinds of people in the world... those who understand binary and those who don't.
If it weren't for the deal that J.R.R. made with Saul Zaentz way back when, we wouldn't have any of the Lord of the Rings movies in the first place. Nor the Lord of the Rings Online game (which I happen to play). Nor any number of other things that may have first turned people on to Tolkien, including the old pen and paper Middle Earth RPG system.
Christopher Tolkien has had control over the rights to things like The Silmarillion, and is notoriously limited in what he'll allow people to do in relation to it. I'd hate to think of what would happen (or more to the point, not happen) if he were able to somehow get back control over The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings also.
I'd forgotten about that. The interesting story is here.
I wouldn't say defending. I would be perfectly happy to have EITHER the extended forever copyright abolished OR the studio execs tossed in the clink. The simple fact is that they are demanding to have their cake and then cheating (by doing everything they claim others wrongly do to them) in order to try to eat it too.
In fact, I don't think the studio should have had to contract with the estate at all. However, I also believe that many of their works should now be public domain. Given the way they've bought twisted IP laws, I have no sympathy for them however. I hope they end up having to cough up treble damages and more. Perhaps they should be penalized at the same ratio as a p2p file sharer is.
"Always ask for a piece of the gross, not the net. The net is fantasy.", Freakazoid to Bo-Ron, Next Time, Phone Ahead
Saturday morning cartoons really were educational television.