The woodenness is part of his charm

And yet they haven't touched middle-earth tavern in Whitby.

That's next. Then you, and other people brazenly stealing from the Star Wars franchise

Silly isn't it.
Makes you realise just how these fools minds work.

Although come to thing of it didn't the franchise embarrassingly lose a case against someone making Trooper helmets, as it was deemed not to be a work of art in which any form of copyright could subsist?

heheh, looks like people power has got Saul to back down

[urlhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-17390623[/url

To those who said it couldn't or shouldn't be done . . .

Brilliant!

They are suggesting that the pub owner contacts them to arrange a licensing deal.

Which is exactly what you'd expect being a copyright holder, hardly "backing down"

Backing down is [size=200100%[/size what it is.

Prior to this rather than suggesting anything, they'd had a cease and desist letter from high powered lawyers. Not an offer to carry on as normal for $100

They've invited them to talk about a licensing deal, nothing more.

the kind of thing I had in mind in my first post on the thread. Why go the legal route when a phone call or visit might have led to this outcome anyway?

Sometimes you have to get people to come to the table before you can speak to them.



Acknowledge that they are using our trademarks
Stop selling infringing articles
Then we will grant them a licence

Open to any suggestions they have - presumably in line with their expectations of acknowledgment, stopping infringements and then paying...

Yep, it's why New Earswick All Blacks keep getting letters from New Zealand threatening legal action.

So why hasn't Dairy Queen sued Liz for breaching their trademark?

The whole Hobbit thing is simply corporate phishing

Its why the Lost Loiners kept getting threats from Leeds Rhinos.

Until it was pointed out that the Rhinos didn't own the copyright to the crest of the City of Leeds badge, nor the colour scheme or design of their own shirts

Because I doubt Dairy Queen owns the rights to the word "Queen" or a title as such.

If she started selling ice cream from her carriage, painted a big red and white DQ logo on the side and asked everyone to call her Dairy Queen then they probably would try and sue her. Or like here, send a letter asking her to refrain from such things.

A lot of the issue is down to precedent, as stated in that article. If you let one corner shop/pub use copyrighted images etc, its hard to complain if someone else does it. Sounds to me that both sides are happy - the copyright owners have an admission in writing that copyright was breached, and the pub gets to carry on. Also good to see that the copyright owners treat existing business differently.

I suspect some of the arguments on here are because a shedload of people quite happily rip off entertainment via the web, regardless of copyright or anything else. I see it as quite clearly a case of a small business trying to cash in on someone else's product and hoping to get away with it. I don't understand the gushing sympathy at all.

You mean Zaentz cashing in on Tolkien's work?

Good luck suing the Queen. As our monarch, she is above the law, and cannot be sued, tried or arrested.

A straight beheading will have to suffice, then.

I'm always amazed when people complain that the LoTR films are long and filled with inconsequential sequences, confusing plots and poor characterisation. Have they never read the books? Even as someone who loves most of the books, I'll accept that as a criticism of the books too.

Good result for the pub, honour is upheld and common sense prevailed.

But the pub's been open 20 years! that's decades before the "product"!

As for "hobbit" - that is a word in common currency and I'd say part of the language now. I don't think anyone has or could have any copyright on the word. If I were being sued i would say that, of course, there used to be (and probably, somewhere, still are) creatures called hobbits, all Tolkien did was became the first to write about them. However his books do make it crystal clear that he was describing a real race of beings, not making it up.

He may of course have been lying, but prove it. I believe in hobbits and will use the word as much as I want, like "humans", or "neanderthals", or "gorillas".

How exactly were they cashing in on a non-existent film franchise 20 years ago?

Have you seen the artwork in question? It bears zero resemblance to anything from the movies.

The artwork in the pub, on the pubs website, on offers and drinks etc are taken directly from the recent films, which I would imagine is more the issue than simply the name of the pub. Like I said earlier, of it was a regular pub called The Hobbitt I don't think there would ever have been an issue. But because the pub started using artwork/names etc from the films to make money then it quite rightly in my view, becomes an issue.

I can't see any artwork taken directly from the films. They've admitted that using the images of Elijah Wood and Viggo Mortensen on some of their promotional materials was a mistake in hindsight. The names are from the books, not the films - remember that they've been themed this way for 20 years so they can hardly be accused of cashing in on the film franchise.