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Tolkien Battle Goes To Court

Published on: 2nd June, 2009

Tolkien Battle Goes To Court

JRR Tolkien | read this item

Round 1 went to the Tolkien trust today in its battle with New Line Cinema over an alleged $220 million it claims is owed from the profits made from The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Judge Ann Jones turned away arguments from the defense that the nature of all the lawsuits claims were such that a jury wasn’t required and she should consider them herself.

She also denied an alternative defense motion that asked for her to ‘decide’ on some claims while others went to a jury.

“I am reluctant to do something serially that I can do simultaneously, I do not want these (witnesses) to come back twice” Jones said.

The door was left slightly ajar though for lawyers of New Line Cinema when the judge said she may be pursuaded at a later date to change her mind and split the case into two phrases.

Bonnie E. Eskenazi, an attorney for the Tolkien trust said “Jones’ rulings mean the trial will proceed like most trials do.”

Tolkien’s heirs are also alleging breach of contract and asking the court to force New Line Cinema to hand over accounts of profits from the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

The Tolkien Trust, a British registered charity set up in 1977 to manage future profits made from the authors works, claim the original deal to the rights of the books included 7.5% of gross movie receipts and merchandise less certain costs going to the charity.

The trial is set to start on October 19th. What this might mean for The Hobbit movie remains to be seen but with filming due to start during the court case it looks like The Tolkien Trust timed it pretty well if they were looking for any kind of leverage.

It’s also understandable why New Line Cinema did not want a jury trial when news of The Hobbit movies will be common place by the time they are selected.

Trying to cast themselves as the good guys against a charitable trust when production of 2 more Tolkien works is under way is going to be very difficult, especially when The Hobbit movies are both practically guaranteed to be blockbusters.

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Readers Comments

Betty says:

June 26, 2009 at 8:47 am

Thanks to Dr. Tolkien we have these masterpieces, so NLC should compensate the Tolkien family and Trustfund.
They will have nothing without Master Tolkien!

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Rara says:

June 28, 2009 at 5:41 pm

I agree with Betty… sure they should pay, and if 7.5% was the deal, they should be true to their given word.

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Harmony Aquarian says:

July 13, 2009 at 9:49 pm

I took these guys to court with no joy, over employment and animal welfare issues. I hope that the Tolkien family has more luck. The film industry is not about art, in my own experience. I am an ex Rider of Rohan.

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James Wood says:

July 14, 2009 at 12:47 pm

I think that this trilogy encouraged more people to read the books and they made it more accessable for our youth, so more books will have been sold because of it, i think they are even.

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ady Reply:
July 14th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
That’s a very good point James. Being an actor though, you’re probably biased

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Liza Hamlin says:

August 2, 2009 at 3:30 am

Fork it over Newline, Tolkien was a man of his word, 7.5 is a small price to pay for the masterpieces he created!

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Dain Helius says:

August 6, 2009 at 6:51 am

I was 16 when i saw the fellowship and a year before hand i had bought and read most of Tolkien’s work, it would be a shame to see the trust lose this case, I’d like to be able to see a director take a stab at The Silmarrilion someday… and hey $220 million has got to add to the likelyhood of it being made right? (haphazard narrative aside)

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MeowCat says:

August 9, 2009 at 12:47 pm

I guess I don’t understand how the movie people think they have a case. The original deal was for 7.5%. They have not been honoring that?

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Rob says:

August 13, 2009 at 5:04 pm

This situation happens again and again in the entertainment business. Film companies agree to royalty arrangements so they can use the works of writers, then later use accounting skulduggery to try to weasel out of them - e.g., claiming that because there was no profit (you can usually find enough expenses to make profits disappear), no royalties are owed. What’s interesting in this case is that the trust apparently made a deal based on revenue, which is very smart. It should have reduced the danger of accounting tricks, but still the trust alleges that company is cheating them.

Judges can be very harsh with movie companies when they get exposed for this kind of thing, and the Tolkien trust has the money to mount a good lawsuit. You have to wonder why New Line would even bother trying. Maybe they thought they could appease the TT until after the Hobbit gets released by making a bigger royalty promise if they held off - the old ‘double or nothing’ approach. After all, the $220 million in question is likely more than enough to make the film, so it means a lot to NLC.

Guess there’s a shortage of good people in high places. Gandalf would know a thing or two about that!

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