Slashdot Mirror
'The Hobbit' Pub Threatened With Lawsuit
An anonymous reader writes "'The Hobbit,' a small pub in Southampton, England, has been threatened with a lawsuit by lawyers representing the Saul Zaentz Company in California. The pub, which has traded under the name for the last 20 years without incident, now faces closure if it does not change its name. It's yet another example of big business throwing its weight around to get its way. The pub's landlady said simply, 'I can't fight Hollywood.'"
Terminate and Stay Resident? Am I increasing or decreasing my geek cred when I admit that's the only TSR I know?
-Arthur
Cave ne ante ullas catapultas ambules
Interestingly, the original edition of the Lord of the Rings is in the public domain in the US due to an error by his publisher at the time. Tolkien had to go back and make a revised edition and market it with a note on the back pleading with fans not to buy the Ace Books edition that he saw no royalties from. So presumably a similar pub in the US (e.g. Bilbo Baggins, in Alexandria, VA) is on safer ground than this one in the UK.
rage, rage against the dying of the light
Mr. Saul Zaentz has a long history of being a dick. Zaentz sued Creedence Clearwater's John Fogerty for plagiarizing himself (!) asking $140 million in damages, and lost.
Zaentz's perception is that he owns the 'brand' Hobbit, although he only owns screen rights.
While it does seem that way, think on this -
The Hobbit was published in 1937. Under life +70 copyright, it doesn't enter the public domain for another 30 years. This is ludicrous. 75 years after publishing, this stuff is part of our culture and should be free for all.
(Yes, I used to drink at this pub!)
And put up an apostrophe, it will be pronounced the same in cockney.
the `obbit
Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle.
Are they going to sue the dictionary too?
hobbit (hbt)
— n
1. one of an imaginary race of half-size people living in holes
2. a nickname used for a very small type of primitive human, Homo floresiensis , following the discovery of remains of eight such people on the Island of Flores, Indonesia, in 2004
It's a student pub- I'd expect no less.
Nice place too. They do these great cocktails in a pint glass named after LOTR characters- The Frodo, The Gollum, The Legolas, etc. The kind of filth-in-a-glass that only a student would find appealing, but great fun.
Although that probably doesn't do their trademark infringement case much good, come to think of it...
Unfortunately, Hollywood has two major advantages:
1) Lots of money for lawyers.
2) It's the UK legal system.
Actually, the UK legal system isn't very friendly to hollywood in this case. They would almost certainly lose if the case came to court (trademarks only work where somebody is likely to think the use of the name implies some kind of actual relationship between the two businesses, which nobody rational would in this case), and that means they would have to pay the Hobbit's legal expenses as well as their own. Because this is a likely outcome, the owners of the Hobbit are likely to be able to find a lawyer who will represent them on a conditional fee arrangement (i.e. they pay nothing, hollywood pays when they win).
(This is not legal advice.)