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rainshadow
Calwyn
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ForeverCrimson
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Damn Hollywood Empty
PostSubject: Damn Hollywood   Damn Hollywood EmptyTue Mar 13, 2012 7:13 pm

... Silly Americans are at their "law suits" things again. This time the company that owns the rights to 'The Hobbit' are suing one of my local pubs which happens to be called 'The Hobbit'.

Yes, it's Lord of the Rings themed, but has been for 20 years! It's an amazing venue. A little scummy but it puts on awesome live music, rock nights, comedy, theatre, has an fantastically large beer garden and is always rammed with students and non-students alike. Many a wonderful night (including my horrendously drunk 20th birthday) have been spent there - mostly due to their cocktails which come in pints and are named after Lord of the Rings characters. Gandalf (electric blue) was always my favourite, though I haven't been able to stomach one since my aforesaid birthday. Plus if you manage to do them all it's called 'doing the Fellowship'.

And now this company are wanting them to rebrand. I understand they own the rights but frankly this seems petty and ridiculous.

Hobbit pub in Southampton threatened with legal action

Quote :
A popular pub and music venue called The Hobbit has been threatened with legal action by US movie lawyers.

The Southampton pub has been accused of copyright infringement by lawyers representing the Saul Zaentz Company (SZC) in California.

The company owns the worldwide rights to several brands associated with author JRR Tolkien, including The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings.

Landlady Stella Mary Roberts said: "I can't fight Hollywood."

The pub in Portswood, which is popular with students, has traded with the name for more than 20 years.

It features characters from Tolkien's stories on its signs, has "Frodo" and "Gandalf" cocktails on the menu, and the face of Lord of the Rings film star Elijah Wood on its loyalty card.

A letter from SZC asked it to remove all references to the characters.

The company asserts it has "exclusive worldwide rights to motion picture, merchandising, stage and other rights in certain literary works of JRR Tolkien including The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit".

The Lord of The Rings films and the forthcoming adaptation of The Hobbit, made by New Line Cinema, have been licensed from SZC.

Landlady Ms Roberts said: "We were absolutely stunned. It was completely unexpected, we never intended to infringe anyone's copyright.

"Are we doing any harm? I don't think so. We're bringing people to the books and the stories who haven't heard of JRR Tolkien.

"We don't have the financial resources to fight it - I can't fight Hollywood."

She said that changing the name and rebranding the pub would "cost thousands".

Student Heather Cartwright, who set up a "Save the Hobbit" Facebook page which has more than 3,000 likes, said: "I was completely shocked by it. It's great to see so many people showing support.

"How long do we need to protect works for? Do we protect the works of Mozart and Shakespeare?" she added.

Punch Taverns, which owns the freehold to the building, said: "We are aware of the situation and are currently consulting with our legal advisors."

Hoping this gets thrown out before they have to pay stupid legal costs.
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PostSubject: Re: Damn Hollywood   Damn Hollywood EmptyTue Mar 13, 2012 8:50 pm

If the owners to the rights of the book didn't do anything for 20 years why the hell should the company that bought the rights to the movie be allowed to do anything about it?
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PostSubject: Re: Damn Hollywood   Damn Hollywood EmptyWed Mar 14, 2012 4:36 pm

Technically the film rights to The Hobbit have been out of the Tolkein estate's hands for around 4 decades, if I remember right. I think the first film (a ten minute animation) was made in the early 70s. I'm not sure how much the rights have changed hands since that time. Regardless, it certainly seems pretty petty to go after a small pub in England because they are run for fans, by fans.
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PostSubject: Re: Damn Hollywood   Damn Hollywood EmptyWed Mar 14, 2012 6:43 pm

So unfair. I mean, at some point, with something this popular especially, just leave it alone!

That sounds like a really good place. Maybe the company would be willing to make the bar part of their brand? I mean, how cool would that be? It would be much better for everyone all around.
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PostSubject: Re: Damn Hollywood   Damn Hollywood EmptyWed Mar 14, 2012 9:22 pm

I could understand removing elements taken directly from the movies, such as character photographs. However, that's obvioulsy not what this place is about. It's not like the pub is trying to capitalize on movies created 10 years AFTER they opened. If The Hobbit had opened during or after the production of the movies, then the producers would have a leg to stand on.
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PostSubject: Re: Damn Hollywood   Damn Hollywood EmptyWed Mar 14, 2012 9:34 pm

Truth, RS
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PostSubject: Re: Damn Hollywood   Damn Hollywood EmptyThu Mar 15, 2012 12:54 pm

Yeah it's all very silly. On the plus side we now have Stephen Fry and Ian McKellen on our side! (Both who are in NZ atm filming The Hobbit).

Lookie what Gandalf said:

Quote :
Gandalf's portrait hangs outside The Hobbit pub in Portswood, Southampton UK and has done for the last 20 years and more. I haven't been there but it's clearly not a place to ill-treat hobbits, elves, dwarves and wizards, in any way. So what's the problem? There hasn't been one until recently. Nor at Gandalf's Night Club in District Six CapeTown. Nor at The Hungry Hobbit, "a sandwich bar based near the author's childhood home," according to The Guardian.

In the past, the family Tolkien Estate has forbidden any commercialisation of the works, by themselves or by others. So no Fellowship statue was permitted outside Wellington Airport 10 years ago. No exhibition of The Lord of the Rings artefacts has been licensed, except temporarily to publicise the films.

There is no Mount Doom ride at Epcot. No Tolkien theme park anywhere, to match the Harry Potter ones which J.K. Rowling thoroughly endorses. Imagine what fun WETA would have recreating the films as a theatre experience. But no, no vulgar popular theme park. What would J.R.R. think of it all? Tut tut.

That doesn't worry New Zealand overmuch. The country itself has become the Middle-earth ride.

But it worries Middle-earth Enterprises of Los Angeles. With no apparent explanation they are insisting that The Hobbit pub stop trading under that name. As if it were possible to control the way Tolkien and his characters have entered the culture. Did anyone try to ban "Gandalf for President" buttons? I wear mine with pride.

I am a part-landlord of a pub called The Grapes. So far no vintners' group has objected. That would be silly of course. As is this unnecessary pettiness. More Alice's Wonderland than Tolkien's Middle-earth. Harrumph.

I haven't yet talked to Stephen Fry about his disapproval of this Hollywood bullying but I'm with him all the way. All the way to The Hobbit pub once filming is over in July.

— Ian McKellen, Wellington NZ, 14 March 2012

It's amazing how quickly the news has spread. I joined the FB group set up by the landlady and it had 3,000 members. It now has 46,000+ people! Madness.
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PostSubject: Re: Damn Hollywood   Damn Hollywood EmptySat Mar 17, 2012 11:27 am

Stupid, never like that company. I hope the place wins it's fight!
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PostSubject: Re: Damn Hollywood   Damn Hollywood EmptyTue Mar 20, 2012 6:59 pm

I think this is stupid, but so was their using the likenesses of specific characters to begin with. bar and drinks named after characters I couldn't care less. But pictures of frodo on their ID cards is potentially cross the line.

All in all, symptomatic of what's wrong with the world, but I am a little in coll A and coll B about this, clearly.
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PostSubject: Re: Damn Hollywood   Damn Hollywood EmptyWed Mar 21, 2012 9:07 am

Quote :
But pictures of frodo on their ID cards is potentially cross the line.

And that's pretty much where I thought the studio might have something of a leg to stand on, if shaky IMO.
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PostSubject: Re: Damn Hollywood   Damn Hollywood EmptySat Mar 24, 2012 8:23 am

That is ridiculous. I mean, yes, they probably shouldn't have Elijah Wood's photo on ID cards as it could be said that they would need permission to do so. However, the pub has been called The Hobbit for the last 20 years, long before the company owned the rights.

That is simply pettiness taken to the extreme. What will they stoop to next? Tell people they can't name anything after characters and places that exist in Tolkien's world? Rolling Eyes
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PostSubject: Re: Damn Hollywood   Damn Hollywood EmptySat Mar 24, 2012 10:16 pm

rainshadow wrote:
I could understand removing elements taken directly from the movies, such as character photographs. However, that's obvioulsy not what this place is about. It's not like the pub is trying to capitalize on movies created 10 years AFTER they opened. If The Hobbit had opened during or after the production of the movies, then the producers would have a leg to stand on.
Agree.
Think its just ridicilous and no offense now to you americans but somehow it feels like you really like your lawsuits (by more then this one) Razz
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PostSubject: Re: Damn Hollywood   Damn Hollywood EmptyThu May 17, 2012 10:32 am

Small update... it's all been sorted. Pub will pay a nominal licencing fee to these people but it's safe.

And this year the fee has been paid by Sir Ian McKellen and Stephen Fry who have said they may "pop in" when they get back from New Zealand... hee hee.
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PostSubject: Re: Damn Hollywood   Damn Hollywood EmptyThu May 17, 2012 11:39 am

Big kudos to Sir Ian and Stephen (hey, that rhymes!) for their contributions. That's quite awesome.

Nice to see it settled.
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PostSubject: Re: Damn Hollywood   Damn Hollywood EmptySat May 19, 2012 5:17 am

ForeverCrimson wrote:
Small update... it's all been sorted. Pub will pay a nominal licencing fee to these people but it's safe.

And this year the fee has been paid by Sir Ian McKellen and Stephen Fry who have said they may "pop in" when they get back from New Zealand... hee hee.

That's great. Very Happy
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