An epic battle for the rights to Middle Earth spread to the Isle of Man.
Douglas high court was the stage for satellite proceedings to an $80 million lawsuit filed in the States against the producers of ‘The Lord of the Rings’ and ‘The Hobbit’ movie trilogies that has been brought by the heirs of J.R.R. Tolkien.
The author’s estate claim devoted fans of the books have been outraged at seeing The Lord of the Rings being associated with what it calls ‘morally questionable’ online and casino gambling games which is says is causing ‘irreparable harm’ to Tolkein’s legacy.
It says when the film rights to The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit were sold in 1969, merchandise rights were also granted but these only extended to tangible products such as figurines and clothing – and at no point has permission been given to the use of depictions of characters from the books in online games.
The Tolkien estate is seeking $80m from Warner Bros, its New Line subsidiary and rights holder Saul Zaentz Co.
In June last year, following an application by the claimants, the magistrate judge in California issued a letter of request to the Douglas court.
This sought an order for island-based Microgaming Software Systems, which is not party to the US proceedings, to conduct a search of documents relating to the use of characters from the Tolkien books in any gambling games.
A contested hearing was set for December 18, but at the door of the court a negotiated settlement was agreed.
The case then moved on to a question of costs.
Advocate Charles Coleman for the Tolkein estate argued it would be unjust for it to be required to pay Microgaming’s costs and in particular those of the lawyers of the defendants in the US case who were involved in negotiating the scope of the order on behalf of the respondent.
The claimant accepted it is normal for an innocent third party to be entitled to its costs in this type of satellite litigation but suggested that principle only applies where the third party has conducted itself neutrally.
But the High Bailiff John Needham ruled that he should follow the general principle that a third party should not be out of pocket in terms of legal costs in having to reasonably deal with such a request. He ordered the claimants to pay the legal costs of Microgaming.