Hobbits, we are told in “Concerning Hobbits”, “…were doughty at bay, and at need could still handle arms”. It seems to be just as true for The Hobbit in Southampton, UK, a pub which finds itself under threat of legal action and which now finds itself at the center of an online army fighting to save it.
The Saul Zaentz Company, best known to Tolkien fans for the 1978 animated Lord of the Rings movie, is the worldwide rights holder to “motion picture, merchandising, stage and other rights in certain literary works of JRR Tolkien including The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit”. Doubtless you have all seen the company name on the trailer for the first of The Hobbit films that is now only a few months away, but it now seems they are unhappy about the Southampton pub and live music venue trading under the same “The Hobbit” name, as they have done for over 20 years.
The pub landlord, Stella Mary Roberts, has declared how stunned she is and asserted she never had any intention to infringe copyright at the venue beloved of many local students. Inside visitors can see characters from Tolkien stories, enjoy a Gandalf or Frodo cocktail or even see Elijah Wood on the pubs loyalty card.
Understandably, Ms Roberts is concerned at the “thousands” it would cost to comply with the requests from lawyers acting for Saul Zaentz Company to remove all character branding and re-name, equally aware that she doesn’t have the money to “fight Hollywood”. The pubs clientele, however, especially its student visitors, appear to be spoiling for a fight.
The Facebook group created to “Save The Hobbit Southampton” has rapidly garnered over 10,000 supporters from all over the world and with its growth has gone extensive worldwide media coverage of the story. Perhaps most notable is the branding of the Saul Zaentz Company legal action as “pointless, self-defeating bullying” by none other than the Master of Laketown himself, actor Stephen Fry.
Whether the online, student-led campaign will achieve its aims remains to be seen, but they’ve certainly been effective in drawing attention to the story and their concerns. One thing, however, seems certain – The Hobbit pub will be very busy indeed tonight!
What are your thoughts on the legal spat, Middle-earth network members? We’d love to hear your thoughts on the story!
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well this sue is incredibly stupid, there are many The Hobbit and Lord Of The Rings stuff out there that I’m sure its not copywrighted, hell there’s a Pub here called The Prancing Pony, it has two restaurants and its highly famous where I live, are they gonna sue them too?!
In Quebec City there is (or at least was in 2006) a “Hobbit Cafe.” In Alexandria Virginia there is a “Bilbo Baggins Cafe” – are they going to get sued as well? Idiocy. We had a mom and pop burger place here in Maryland called “Cheeseburgers In Paradise.” Yep. Jimmy Buffet sued and forced them to change the name to “Beef and Buns in Paradise.” Complete idiocy.
Keep in mind that Saul Zentz owns the merchandising rights, and media rights. However they never bought the name ‘Hobbit’ from Tolkien. If you do a trademark search you’ll find that they have been quietly trademarking many of the names from Tolkien’s works. This is due to the fact that names are not protected by copyright, so an alternative is to trademark these. In fact any of us can trademark a name from any book whether we authored it or not.
Getting a trademark is pretty simple and costs roughly $600-$1,000 USD. You simply file, the trademark office reviews your application, then publishes your filing for anyone to dispute. If it’s not disputed (and how many of us are searching through trademark applications lol), it’s usually given a rubber stamp approval by the trademark office.
The acid tests though comes when it’s brought before a court. The court determines whether a trademark is indeed enforceable at that point. So the simple fact is I could, as an example, trademark the word ‘jewel’. It would be granted (if not disputed to the trademark office by anyone), and I would be the trademark holder of that term. I could then go after anyone who used the word jewel. It’s safe to assume that it wouldn’t hold up in court. But I could certainly hold the club of infringing on my trademark over anyone I wanted to bully.
The court also looks at many factors including affect of the infringement on the trademark holders business (did it fool people into buying it’s products vs. the trademark holders, etc) and many other factors. I’m vastly over simplifying this and it’s only my opinion and not legal counsel, but you get the idea.
My own opinion is that this pub’s case would hold (sans the Elijah Woods photo on their card and other problems). I use as an example the case of Hobbit Travel in Minnesota:
“A recent opinion from the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California consists of a discussion of the doctrine of laches – a sort of equitable statute of limitations – and how it can make trademark policing and enforcement a tricky business, in some cases. In Saul Zaentz Co. v. Wozniak Travel, Inc., 2008 WL 2949423, the plaintiff who was the owner of the rights in various trademarks and copyrights related to J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth literature, filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against the defendant, who operates a travel agency based and operating largely within Minnesota called Hobbit Travel, which began operations in 1976. The defendant subsequently filed a motion for summary judgment arguing that the plaintiff’s suit should be barred as a matter of law due to the plaintiff’s unreasonable delay in bringing suit. The court agreed.”
Just on the time element (the pub has been using the name for 20 years) I think Saul Zentz would have a difficult time enforcing the trademark.
If it had been a recently established pub or restaurant or whatever, fair enough, but something that has been there for 20 years? Get a life!
Only found out about this story this morning, but it has caused my blood to boil, over their ridiculous bully boy tactics.
Seeing how long the pub has been called The Hobbit, it makes them look like a joke.
I’m just wondering what possible positive result this could POSSIBLY bring for Saul Zaents and cohorts? Anything? Anyone? I don’t have enough fingers and toes to count the NEGATIVE results.
There’s no losses in it for them – they’re hardly in competition with a pub. There’s no slandering the good name of Hobbits everywhere – Hobbits were often found in pubs. They’re not protecting the name or the trademark, they’re just preventing others from using it. This can’t be good for Tolkien fans, surely. And not even good for SZ either.
Saul Zaents and Co. probably got bored. It’s happened throughout the ages. The high-class people with enough money to buy control get bored and pick on the little guys who can’t fight back. The schoolyard counterpart of this activity is called “bullying.” Look it up. Jack is right. This lawsuit will only have negative results wherever you look. It’s not gaining Saul Zaents anything they can’t do without or don’t have plenty of already. Wait, no. It is gaining them something! The contempt of Hobbit fans worldwide! You’d think they’d have a logician somewhere in their hierarchy that would do the math and go, “Hey guys…”
In 2004 scientists discovered the remains of an 18,000 year old skeleton of a small child size (3.3 feet tall on average) adult human which they named Homo floresiensis. They also dubbed it ‘hobbit’. It amazes me that Saul Zentz and Co. would go after a small pub, while ignoring things like this lol. Oh wait, maybe History Channel is too big to bully
It is. They are part of the A&E Network, which is co-owned by Disney/ABC and NBC ;-D
It looks like Sir Ian McKellen has also weighed in with a comment, on the side of reason.
http://www.mckellen.com/cinema/hobbit-movie/120314.htm
As an aside, I LOVE that he wears a badge that says “Gandalf for President”!
I think Mark is RIGHT ON about his points.
They’d be hard pressed to get away with that one.
Glad its working its way through the ringer now with the press behind it, and Gandalf himself now putting in his words of encouragement.
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