Save the Hobbit
Discussion
anyone seen this?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-173...
i have been to this pub many times. surely SZC has better things to be doing then picking on a small pub in southampton.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-173...
i have been to this pub many times. surely SZC has better things to be doing then picking on a small pub in southampton.
While I think there are better ways of handling a situation like this than just lawyer-ing up I think the pub is on pretty shaky ground with some of the stuff they have been doing. Going so far as to use photos from the LoTR films on their loyalty card etc. IMO they are blatantly attempting to further their profits using someone else's IP (and in the case of Elijah Wood his face).
Also, isn't it the case with copyright/trademark/IP law that as the owner of the rights, you have to fight any case you come across or else the powers that be can take the rights from you? I suppose they could offer these people a free of charge licence to use their names/characters, but as has been said, they're using pictures and stuff from the movie they have no right to.
Jimboka said:
The pub has been using the name for 20+ years according to BBC site. Pointless corporate bullying IMHO.
I would imagine if all they were doing was using the name then probably nothing would have ever happened about it - using images from the films was probably enough to get someone's attention though.KaraK said:
I would imagine if all they were doing was using the name then probably nothing would have ever happened about it - using images from the films was probably enough to get someone's attention though.
I agree. This was my local while at uni almost 20 years ago, and it was just the Hobbit - no branding or movie nonsense back then of course.
king horrible money-obsessed bDoes the Facebook group actually think they can do anything, the Facebook users have 2 options, donate money to hire an experienced lawyer to fight it or try to change the minds of "Hollywood". Surely, any business woman would have seen this coming though, if it was just called 'The Hobbit', then fine, but trading on material taken from the movies goes way beyond that.
Regiment said:
Does the Facebook group actually think they can do anything, the Facebook users have 2 options, donate money to hire an experienced lawyer to fight it or try to change the minds of "Hollywood". Surely, any business woman would have seen this coming though, if it was just called 'The Hobbit', then fine, but trading on material taken from the movies goes way beyond that.
quite,just because you are a 2 bit pub doesn't mean that you can just do whatever you like
i'm off to my local after work 'disneyland' the landlord, mickey will be bricking it when i tell him about this.
Corporate bullying? I agree. Getting Facebook, Stephen Fry and BBC news onside was quite a coup to allow them to make a mockery of copyright laws while coining it in from students and righteous types who think they're siding with the honest publican against the nasty American lawyers.
As others have said, if it was simply a pub called The Hobbit, maybe even with the odd reference to the book or certain characters then I doubt anything would happen. But putting actors faces on their loyalty card is taking the piss a bit.
And it's not, as we might imagine, owned some bookish Middle Earth enthusiast who also sells his home brewed Hobbiton Ale, it's owned by Punch Taverns, a national chain with a revenue of nearly £1.2 billion last year. Plenty of money for some good lawyers if they deem it worth their while.
Saul Zaentz meanwhile is a 91 year old film producer who bought the rights because he wanted to make a film of them over 30 years ago, and has held them ever since.
As others have said, if it was simply a pub called The Hobbit, maybe even with the odd reference to the book or certain characters then I doubt anything would happen. But putting actors faces on their loyalty card is taking the piss a bit.
And it's not, as we might imagine, owned some bookish Middle Earth enthusiast who also sells his home brewed Hobbiton Ale, it's owned by Punch Taverns, a national chain with a revenue of nearly £1.2 billion last year. Plenty of money for some good lawyers if they deem it worth their while.
Saul Zaentz meanwhile is a 91 year old film producer who bought the rights because he wanted to make a film of them over 30 years ago, and has held them ever since.
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