http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-17350103
B.B.C. article
"A popular pub and music venue called The Hobbit has been threatened with legal action by US movie lawyers.
The Southampton pub has been accused of copyright infringement by lawyers representing the Saul Zaentz Company (SZC) in California.
The company owns the worldwide rights to several brands associated with author JRR Tolkien, including The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings."


*Sauron is a registerd trademark of the Saul Zaentz Company, and is used in this context to take the piss.

Quite the irony, in that the Shire is based on an idealised England, pubs being a crucial part of the culture thereof.

Look, here's another one: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bi ... m-15825960

Hmmm. Wonder if they've copyrighted "The Prancing Pony" too.

Unfortunately in America rights to created works follow the Mickey Mouse law. The length of time that copyright applies shall be extended as often as necessary to insure that Mickey is owned by Disney. The hobbit published in 1937 (11 years post Mickey) will never become public domain.

Is "United States of America" copyrtghted?

Well it's not just a pub that happens to be called the hobbit, it's used the same font as well.

I think they are gone now, but in Cannonbridge, in Edinburgh, beside the 'Blackadder Gallery' someone set up 'Baldrick's Sandwich Shop'. I kid ye not.

DougC wrote:I think they are gone now, but in Cannonbridge, in Edinburgh, beside the 'Blackadder Gallery' someone set up 'Baldrick's Sandwich Shop'. I kid ye not.

Any good? I get all the geekiness I want from a pub at the Auld Hoose.

this is another example of the likes of the patent trolls and i reckon it's about time we made them knock it off. these parasites produce nothing, waste everyone's time and create distress wherever they go. copyrights and patents should only be held by the initiators of the ideas they protect and should expire after the fifteen years originally envisaged. time for folk to say 'fuck off'.

who's got the copywrite on God?

biscuit wrote:who's got the copywrite on God?

In the UK the Crown holds to copyright to the KJV.

This shit just got real: Stephen Fry backs Hobbit pub in Southampton over legal action.

I'm the only one who thinks it's a rip off then? This isn't like the McDonald's cases where it just happens to be the same name.

I just want to congratulate you on an excellent subtitle.

Paul G wrote:I'm the only one who thinks it's a rip off then? This isn't like the McDonald's cases where it just happens to be the same name.

Of course it's a rip off. It's clearly basing the pub on the book. And if Tolkien was suing them for infringement of copyright, I'd definitely be on his side. I think the problem people have is that the pub is being sued by a random American company that had absolutely no creative input into any aspect of The Hobbit.

I don't know what you mean by the font though. There's a million different copies of The Hobbit, and none of them seem to look like the logo of that pub (which should be a matter for the individual publisher that designed the cover anyway).

DougC wrote:I think they are gone now, but in Cannonbridge, in Edinburgh, beside the 'Blackadder Gallery' someone set up 'Baldrick's Sandwich Shop'. I kid ye not.

It's not as good as the fast food takeaway shop Edinburger, the best name of any place, anywhere.

I'm With Stupid wrote:

Paul G wrote:I'm the only one who thinks it's a rip off then? This isn't like the McDonald's cases where it just happens to be the same name.

Of course it's a rip off. It's clearly basing the pub on the book. And if Tolkien was suing them for infringement of copyright, I'd definitely be on his side. I think the problem people have is that the pub is being sued by a random American company that had absolutely no creative input into any aspect of The Hobbit.

Surely suing this place over the use of the word hobbit is akin to suing a restaurant called the Hoover. It's become such a common word that it's entered the public domain, such as it were.

The fact that the word 'Hobbit' predates Tolkien notwithstanding.

Grimstad wrote:Hmmm. Wonder if they've copyrighted "The Prancing Pony" too.

The Prancing Pony pub is about 1/3 the way on the road from Worcester to Hereford. It was renamed some 20 years ago, hopefully under the gaze of The Great Eye.

HughMcB wrote:I just want to congratulate you on an excellent subtitle.