In a lawsuit reminiscent of some publishing disputes over contracts from decades ago, on Monday the Tolkien Estate and HarperCollins have sued Warner Bros., New Line and the Saul Zaentz Company for allegedly overreaching in their licensing of merchandising rights to The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. The suit argues that the original grant of merchandising rights in 1969 (as further amended in 1975 and again in 1981) covered only “all articles of tangible personal property”–and thus “did not include any grant of exploitations such as electronic or digital rights.” They allege that the filmmakers have “with increasing […]
