LoTR Lawsuit Threatens Hobbit Production 427
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.'"
Re:Thought experiment (Score:3, Interesting)
It wouldn't work.
A jury is not going to want to punish you unless you are "one of the little people".
PR flacks will make sure that the white collar criminals maintain a well manicured reputation.
Ultimately, the little guy will end up the one on the hook for the new draconian punishment. ...something sounds familiar here.
Re:Damn leeches (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
I'd normally side with the family, but... (Score:4, Interesting)
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.
re:this is common in hollywood (Score:3, Interesting)
what i don't understand about all of this: how do the studios make any money whatsoever with accounting of that sort? how does this survive any kind of auditing process?
Re:Threatening Hobbit Production... (Score:2, Interesting)
Does anyone own their own ideas anymore? (Score:3, Interesting)
LoTR was a great work by someone who really spent time and effort writing the book. Does he (or even his family) not deserve to reap the rewards of his efforts that we are all enjoying? Why does everyone think that just because you like it that somehow it's now no longer HIS but OURS. Communism?
On a separate but related note.... if Hollywood studios came up with their OWN IDEAS instead of just using comics / books / other movies as a basis for new scripts, they WOULD NOT HAVE THESE PROBLEMS. Screenwriters need to start coming up with original ideas, not just remakes of movies from the 50s or childrens cartoons from the 80s.
Re:Damn leeches (Score:1, Interesting)
Leeches are people benefiting from work without contributing. How is an artist or his family benefiting from their work "leeching"? Why does the public have any rights to the work? I'm not talking laws I'm talking morally. If he had never published his work the public would never have benefited but the family would ironically control the work. The act of publishing or making public costs and artist and his family rights to his own work. The studios are the leeches here not the family. The work is a family legacy just as much as a home or business the person made for their family. He did sell rights but there were conditions and the conditions still apply. I find it sad that a carpenter can build a home that his family can live in for 500 years but a writer looses his work in a fraction of that time. In truth there isn't a very high value placed on the artists rights already and now everyone wants that taken away. You can drone on about houses and books being different all you want but the ugly truth is I think writers should stop writing and should start building houses. I'm making a similar shift myself after years of fighting with studios and now the public to keep rights to my work. I just lost a film over a contract dispute and after nearly four years of work I doubt I'll ever see much. Eventually you just have to say what's the point? and pack it in.
Re:Damn leeches (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Damn leeches (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
Re:Threatening Hobbit Production... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Damn leeches (Score:3, Interesting)
He wrote those books in the forties. If he would have written them in 1840 the copyright would have expired by 1860. Why should Tolkien have a longer copyright period than Mark Twain?
Prince, Michelle Shocked (Score:3, Interesting)
Courtney Love, Joni Mitchell the list goes on.
Prince changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol, a stroke of genius because the contract he was under said he could use his own name if he jumped ship. He became "the artist formerly known as Prince".
Courtney Love got hosed and wrote about how a band with a platinum album could end up scraping by on whatever a record company threw them.
http://archive.salon.com/tech/feature/2000/06/14/love/ [salon.com]
Joni Mitchell got hosed, and put an article about it up on the web.
(can't find the link)
Michelle Shocked couldn't record an album for 10 years due to a bad contract.
Beck accepted the lowest contract offer he got because it gave him the most control.
It's not just the movie companies.
Book publishers too. God help you if you accept an advance or or go on a book tour. The charge backs can be horrific. Don't ever let them buy you anything. They'll overcharge you for any and all services. the limo to the airport or the venue might seem nice, but they will charge you back for it.
The opening night gala for the movie opening, book openings. Etc.
The word "pimps" comes to mind.
Re:Threatening Hobbit Production... (Score:3, Interesting)
Saturday morning cartoons really were educational television.
Re:Read this elsewhere (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Good (Score:3, Interesting)
Which is more that can be said for those vampire Otherkin communities created by those shitty teen vampire romance novels (especially Twilight). Those people are batshit insane. There's even been rumors going around that a prominent Boston prep school is inhabited by "vampires" [boston.com] to the point where the police had to get involved.
Re:Damn leeches (Score:2, Interesting)
Inheritence is bullshit. It just perpetuates a lazy aristocracy. I've told my parents to die broke, and I will do the same.
Yes, because your parents accumulating enough wealth to make you independent of social security and banks is a terrible idea.
Personally, I'd like our society to have a greatly reduced dependence on borrowing. I think a person living normally ought to have a reasonable chance to go through life without significant debt. The only ways I've thought of this being possible are if houses become very cheap or if it becomes common for people to inherit their accommodation.
If I manage to leave such an inheritance to my children (a house or unit each) I don't think I would be perpetuating a lazy aristocracy. Mind you, I already have a house and my parents aren't dead, but I've had some lucky breaks. Unless my children can save the cash for a house themselves, they will be dependent on a landlord, a bank or the government to be able to get accommodation. So they will either get it from people who want (reasonably) to profit from them, from people who raise the money by taxation, or from me. Surely the best thing for society is for them to get it from me since I am willing (no need for tax) and do not require profits for helping my children (more efficient than banks/landlords).
Re:Threatening Hobbit Production... (Score:3, Interesting)
I was looking at the other side of the coin where the very laws Hollywood bought are what made them have to deal with the estate. So when Hollywood whines, they're whining because they got their way. Soon enough they'll whine for another extension followed by whining about having to pay someone else for an idea that would otherwise be public domain.
At least the Tolkien estate keeps it's story consistent.
I can't say I have a lot of sympathy for either side, but I can't help a little snicker at Hollywood's expense since they did it to themselves.