Warner Bros have counter-sued the Tolkien Estate over loss in profits from being barred from marketing the Hobbit movie and making profits from licensing it to online gambling and online casino slot machine companies.
The Tolkien Estate sued Warner Bros last year stating that they had never approved that the Tolkien characters be used in online gambling and online casino slots merchandizing.
Warner Bros stated that “We invested considerable time and money into plans for further exploitation of the [Tolkien] works that it has now had to delay, reconsider and perhaps cancel altogether as a result of [the estate’s] repudiation of Warner’s rights under the 2010 Regrant Agreement”.
Hollywood reporter spoke to the lawyer for the Tolkien Estate who stated that,
“The defendants’ amended counterclaims are nothing more than an effort to sue the Tolkiens and HarperCollins for suing them. They are entirely without merit and are a classic example of studio “bullying tactics.” The Tolkiens and HarperCollins filed this lawsuit in order to force WB and Zaentz to live within the boundaries of the contract to which they agreed. WB’s and Zaentz’s amended counterclaims are simply an attempt to punish the Tolkiens and HarperCollins for having the nerve to stand up to the studios and tell them that they can’t take more rights than were granted to them by contract. Luckily, the law protects people like the Tolkiens and HarperCollins from these kinds of intimidation tactics.”
The licensing agreement that Warner Bros had with Microgaming Software that produced the very popular Lord of the Rings slot machine was cancelled because of the November 2012 lawsuit. Warner Bros claims they had to pay Microgaming millions of dollars for loss of advertising and development costs.
The Tolkien estate is expected to respond with its own filing.
Microgaming Software has released Girls with Guns – Jungle Heat Online Slot which many Lord of the Rings slot players have commended as a worthy re-skin of the original Lord of the Rings game.
