If you have a second, you might like to "Like" [urlhttp://www.facebook.com/SaveTheHobbitSouthampton[/url
and spread the word.

It's just a little 20 year old pub in Southampton but of course now there's a film coming out, Shylock wants his pound of flesh and has written demanding they stop using the name as some US assholes own all the worldwide rights.
[url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-17366992BBC article[/url
They're trying to get it trending on Twitter too.

WOuld they not get told to bugger off on 'prior use' grounds?

Read the BBC article and then see if the pub has broken any copyright issues (on their signage for instance).

They possibly have but a bunch of big booted lawyers from the US stomping all over them doesn't do Saul Zaentz any favours in the eyes of Joe Public. Many many better ways to have resolved this.

Its another one of those "shrugs shoulders" moments - try opening a pub called "McDonalds", use their logo and dress your staff up as Ronald McDonald and see how long it takes for the big booted lawyers to deliver a writ to your door.

Its pretty dumb using film characters to advertise your business, especially if as they claim they have been using the name for 20 years - it suggests that they've recently changed the signage to take advantage of the film company's copyrighted images.

Not clever, not victims either.

Pretty much my view too. If it were just a "regular" pub called The Hobbitt I'd be full square behind them, but since they've changed all the signage and offers to the same as the films then I have little sympathy. They're simply trying to make money from and take advantage of someone else's work.

Well, my reading of this suggests that the imbecilic lawyers want them to drop all names – and certainly, on the basis of the pub sign I've seen, that is not a picture from the film, but a generalised line drawing of what some of the characters might look like.

I'm sorry . . . did Saul Zaentz write Lord of the Rings? I thought it was Tolkien. Phew. For a minute there I thought the poor Saul was taking advantage of someone else's work. My mistake.

I hope someone has told Elijah Wood that Saul owns his likeness too. They'll have a good pay day there, a Google search for Hobbit Art comes up with about 8.8m images. That will take some checking.

But presumably this Saul person bought the rights to these things. Elijah Wood no doubt was paid money so that the films could use his likeness. The artwork etc used was designed by someone working on the films. Not by someone at the pub. It is not the pub's work but someone else's.
If the pub had paid to use these images/artwork etc then nobody would have a problem. But they didn't. They want to make money using someone else's work. The owner of the rights to that work is surely entitled to say either take it or down or pay some money.
Like Mclaren said, if this were called the McDonalds pub and decked out like a McDonalds with Ronald McDonald as barman, then no-one would think twice when McDonalds told them to stop.
It's why we have copyright law surely? Like I said, if it were just the name no-one would bother but because they've gone down the whole route of using pictures/artwork etc from the films and named the drinks then I have little sympathy.

Having presumably updated the original Hobbit theme of 20 years hence [ibecause[/i of the film...

Copyright theft is copyright theft.

Stuff it. I'm going to open easyPub next week and paint it orange. Be reet.

When I order a pint of bitter will you deliver a pint of lager to another table?

What will you care if it costs 25p, even if you have ordered six months in advance?

If you're doing that, I'm gonna open the iDeli. I'll sell hugely over-priced iSandwiches in which the filling is no better than in much cheaper butties, but the bread looks a bit fancier. Watch all the gullible morons come flocking!

Do you want to open a Subway franchise, then...?

And I'll mention all the people I know who've had three PCs while I've had one Mac – and linked mobile devices.



And also that easyJet haven't complained over campaigns against what have been termed 'easyCouncils'.

Oh – and to repeat: the story about the pub says that the legal firm wants the pub to remove all names ...

Super ironic since Tolkien's story wasn't even original.

I knew it wouldn't take long! All you iPhone drones are so precious!

All you PC geeks are such – well, geeks!

Er, guilty. Ooh, just thought of another idea to make my iDeli even more authentic: I'll hire a load of Chinese workers, pay them six quid a week, then beat the crap out of them to ensure they produce an acceptable number of iSandwiches per hour!

The artwork on the signage does not appear to have come from the films. In fact as far as I can tell from the article, the only thing directly linked to the films is the picture of Elijah Wood's face on their loyalty card. And unless it's a picture of him in his Frodo role then that would be more of an issue for his lawyers than SZ's.

The whole thing is, at the very least, pointlessly heavy-handed. Just how much damage is this place doing to the 'brand' that SZ own? Are people wandering in expecting to see the movie or something?

Where is your PC made?

Despite some miserable pompous gets on here, the Facebook page already has 40,000 'Likes', and the pub now has [url=http://www.mckellen.com/cinema/hobbit-movie/120314.htm[size=150 Gandalf himself onside[/size[/url.

So follow that, whingers!

Meh. I knew that would be the response as I was typing it. My PC was woven from hemp by well-paid western workers in luxurious, unionised factories.

I think this is the most pertinent point. It's patently obvious that the pub and the film aren't linked. Do they think that a person suffering a bad pint at 'The Hobbit' will subsequently decide not to go and see 'The Hobbit'?

The answer is: no, they'll already have decided not to see it based on the fact that it's likely to be as drawn-out and tedious as the Lord of the Rings films.

Don't dis the LotR movies.