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"AGE OF THE HOBBITS": Asylum finally sued for making ripoff movies

Dream

Dream

Admiral
Admiral
LOS ANGELES (CN) - The studios behind "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy and "The Hobbit" sued a production company that specializes in knockoffs to try to stop release of its straight-to-DVD movie, "Age of the Hobbits."
Warner Bros. Entertainment, New Line Cinema, New Line Productions, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, and The Saul Zaentz Co. sued Global Asylum aka The Asylum of Burbank, in Federal Court.
The major studios say Asylum intends to release its low-budget movie just three days before filmmaker Peter Jackson's first "Hobbit" movie opens in the United States, on Dec. 14.
The Asylum hopes to profit from "consumer confusion," get a "free ride on the worldwide advertising campaign" and "divert customers and potential customers away" from the major studios' film, according to the complaint.
"The Asylum's advertising for its low-budget knockoff also has been and is confusingly similar to advertising for and images from the plaintiffs' copyrighted films and trademarked products, including the font and style in which the titles appear and the overall look and feel of the images depicted in the artwork and packaging," the 35-page complaint states.
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http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/11/09/52146.htm

YES! It has finally happened. I hope this means Asylum will finally stop making those crap ripoff movies.:scream:
 
This isn't the first time. Fox tried to sue them for The Day the Earth Stopped but nothing came of it. Universal did sue them and get them to change the title of their movie that had Battleship in it though. :shrug:
 
Surely there must be some kind of precedent for this case, or did no-one ever sue Roger Corman?
 
Flying Spaghetti Monster said:
thought hobbits were an actual word and there is actually records fo a species that were basically hobbits?
In any case I hope Asylum wins this one.
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I don't think the test for copyright infringement/dilution begins or ends with whether or not the title uses a real word.
 
Flying Spaghetti Monster said:
thought hobbits were an actual word and there is actually records fo a species that were basically hobbits?
In any case I hope Asylum wins this one.
Click to expand...
There was a recent hominid species (Homo florensiensis) that might have resembled Hobbits, but the articles that compared them were mostly using it for "REAL LIFE HOBBIT" catchy headlines, they wouldn't have actually been hobbits any more than Gigantophithecus makes Sasquatch real.
 
I thought it'd be trademark infringement. They should've went all the way and called it "Lord of the Hobbits".

It'll be interesting to see where this leads, Asylum makes a lot of crap but I'm curious from a legal standpoint where they stand. Of course, I don't think the legal fees can stretch too far for Asylum before it simply isn't profitable to fight, right or not.
 
I've honestly been amazed that they've been able to get away with such blatant ripoffs for so long.
 
Flying Spaghetti Monster said:
thought hobbits were an actual word and there is actually records fo a species that were basically hobbits?
In any case I hope Asylum wins this one.
Click to expand...
Tolkien came up with word as a derivitive of "Hobgoblin." I believe there was also a word "Hobb" in some dialects. "Hobbit" is definately a creation of Tolkien.
 
This might not belong in this thread, but I can't believe how unexcited I am for the Hobbit. I loved the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I remember months before it's release, there's just be still photos released, like photos of Gandalf in his pointy hat. Yet it looked great because for the first time, despite being a fantasy, the filmed looked and felt authentic. I'm sure Jackson will make this new film series look the same, but the excitement is no longer there. He isn't challenging himself anymore, and what we will see when it opens is nothing new at all. We all know the story, we all know how it will look, and all know that Smaug will appear merely as another CGI creation. It can only disappoint. This new trilogy is simply the a vanity project for Jackson who has been doing vanity projects for the past eight years
 
hmm, I watched the trailer for that asylum thing and I would be hard pressed to actually make any definitive connection other than the name. To be honest I believe they've only done themselves a disservice by releasing so close to the big budget film.

But to be honest the "owner" of the word Hobbit can go fuck themselves. The word was in use before Tolkien, and was also a unit of weight. The whole fact that a pub had to buy a license to use a name it had been using for more than 20 years is disgusting, the only motivation there is to get more money. Obviously when the hobbit is in the cinemas, I won't go and watch the film in the cinema, noo, I'll go to that pub instead. Absolutely ridiculous.
 
throwback said:
A New Zealand professor has been banned by Saul Zaentz Company/Middle-earth Enterprises from using the word 'hobbit' in his lecture on Homo florensiensis.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/oct/30/hobbit-banned-prehistoric-hobbit
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lolwut? :wtf:

Flying Spaghetti Monster said:
This might not belong in this thread, but I can't believe how unexcited I am for the Hobbit. I loved the Lord of the Rings trilogy. This new trilogy is simply the a vanity project for Jackson who has been doing vanity projects for the past eight years
Click to expand...

I would never - never I say! - have expected to read such a comment from you after the last several months. Truly, I am thunderstruck.
 
Dream said:
The major studios say Asylum intends to release its low-budget movie just three days before filmmaker Peter Jackson's first "Hobbit" movie opens in the United States, on Dec. 14.
The Asylum hopes to profit from "consumer confusion," get a "free ride on the worldwide advertising campaign" and "divert customers and potential customers away" from the major studios' film, according to the complaint.
"The Asylum's advertising for its low-budget knockoff also has been and is confusingly similar to advertising for and images from the plaintiffs' copyrighted films and trademarked products, including the font and style in which the titles appear and the overall look and feel of the images depicted in the artwork and packaging," the 35-page complaint states.
Click to expand...
http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/11/09/52146.htm

YES! It has finally happened. I hope this means Asylum will finally stop making those crap ripoff movies.:scream:
Click to expand...

Yes as a consumer, I'm really confused with a major cinema release and a direct to DVD movie. Not.

I wonder how many more people will be interested in taking a look at the Asylum movie now that a fuss is being made over it.
 
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