A federal judge has denied a motion to dismiss 20th Century Fox’s lawsuit against Warner Bros. over the rights to produce and distribute Watchmen.
In the lawsuit, filed in February, Fox claims to hold the exclusive copyrights and contract rights to Watchmen, and seeks to prevent Warner Bros. from moving forward with the movie. The lawsuit also seeks unspecified damages.
Hollywood gossip columnist Nikki Finke reports that U.S. District Court Judge Gary Allen Feess is still considering Fox’s motion for an injunction.
Fox claims that between 1986 and 1990 it acquired all movie rights to Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ DC Comics series. According to the lawsuit, in 1991 Fox assigned some rights to Largo International, which later dismantled and transferred those rights to producer Lawrence Gordon. Gordon, in turn, agreed to pay a buy-out price to Fox if he ever entered into a deal with a third party.
After stops at Universal and Paramount, Watchmen ended up at Warner Bros. But Fox claims than neither Gordon nor Warner Bros. has paid the required fee or acquired the necessary rights.
“While the Judge’s opinion is preliminary and his views could change in the course of the litigation, his current take on the facts is consistent with our position,” a Fox source tells Finke.
Update: Variety reports that Fox isn’t looking for monetary compensation. Rather, it wants to prevent Warner Bros. from ever releasing Watchmen.
The trade paper quotes “a source close to the litigation” as saying, “When you have copyright infringement, there are some damages you never recover.”
Hollywood Insider provides a little history and context.
Update: Jeff Trexler has all of the relevant legal documents, including the judge’s order, and highlights what’s been mentioned in several reports — that Warner Bros. faced a similar situation in 2005 with The Dukes of Hazzard.
August 18th, 2008 at 6:40 pm
Would Alan Moore laugh about this or not even care… I’m leaning toward not even caring. But it’s funny
August 18th, 2008 at 7:28 pm
I sincerly hope this is all resolved because i for one was very much looking forward to this particular release!& ide hate to see it killed due to a technicality Man that would suck!
August 19th, 2008 at 4:05 am
Ha ha oh man. This whole development is intriguing. And I’m with Andrew in wondering what Alan Moore thinks of it.
August 19th, 2008 at 6:28 am
I understand Fox maybe be a little upset that they had rights or whatever and a piece of the profits would be ok, but to say that dont want it ever released is just being a bunch of pricks. All i read when i see that is “Wah Wah Wah!, we dont want it made, Wah Wah, Screw the fans who’ve been waiting for this film for years!”
Yeah thanks Fox, thats alot.
Just take a payoff and F’ Off!!
August 19th, 2008 at 8:03 am
Wolverine boycott if this thing goes through?
I know that’s what my friends and I will be doing.
Amazing how the company who banked on Meet Dave or The Happening to be their biggest hit this summer is now trying to cut out the potentially biggest film of next year. I think the increased graphic novel sales from the trailer alone this summer is fairly indicative of the kind of audience it may pull, particularly for a March movie. It’ll be equivalent to 300 at least.
August 19th, 2008 at 8:05 am
This isn’t about a technicality or screwing the fans, this is about Fox saving face and not looking like wimps (In there view).
Really, WB should have made sure it was all resolved before going ahead. I would point the finger at them personally.
August 19th, 2008 at 8:32 am
truthfully, Fox isn’t really racking up the good will of the fanboys, at least comic wise…looking at their output (if you put aside the first two Xmen movies, honestly really just X2) what do you have?
Fantastic Four
Fantastic Four : rise of the silver surfer
X-men: the Last stand
Daredevil
Elektra
Not so hot so far…and folks are expecting Wolverine to be good? This is just a company that can’t play with the big boys anymore.
August 19th, 2008 at 9:32 am
They might say “we dont want money, we just want it to not be released.” but thats just a negotiating tactic. If it looks anything like Fox might win, Warners will settle out of court and Fox will accept.
August 19th, 2008 at 10:07 am
Kind of a dick move on Fox’s part, especially waiting until the last minute to stir this up. I love Watchmen, but am concerned about its ability for film adaptation. I’m on the fence about seeing the movie but Fox should just chill out rather than trying to squeeze every penny out of every franchise they possibly can.
August 19th, 2008 at 10:09 am
Also, Jon has a good point- it’s unlikely that Fox is going to develop their OWN Watchmen flick at some point…It seems like a gambit to get an out-of-court settlement.
August 19th, 2008 at 10:14 am
I hope it gets settled. Ive been waiting for a Watchmen film for along time (as im sure most comic book fans have). I’d hate to think it gets buried because aload of already rich execs can’t come to some sort of agreement.
August 19th, 2008 at 10:40 am
You know I hear a lot of ranting on this sight about how horrible Fox is, but Fox is not in the wrong. In this country we have laws to protect the property of individuals, something that in the founding days of the country was revolutionary.
Copyright infringement is a real crime. You are essentially stealing intellectual property. Sure the Watchmen movie looks cool, but in the event it bombs, that is damaging to the property as a whole…even if it succeeds it could be damaging to their ability to capitalize on the property.
As someone above said, the tactic of “we never want to see it released”, is just that, a tactic. It is legal maneuvering, you have to come out strong with your absolute worst case scenario…you can always say you want less, but you can never say you want more.
The real blame lies with WB. They had an obligation to research and make sure no one else held a copyright. Either they didn’t (negligence) or they did and chose to ignore it (criminal). We all want to see it, so we support the company in the wrong? If you want to see it badly enough, write WB and tell them to settle.
August 19th, 2008 at 10:55 am
A good legal point that could possibly get this laughed outta court. Fox essentialy had 15 years to claim this. Why haven’t they sued universal or paramount? Fox may get very little, if any, money out of this, but the film will come out.
August 19th, 2008 at 11:12 am
I guess that’s what WB gets for dissing fox and stealing bryan singer from x3 for their superman. Now they are going to have to pay the piper. Ha ha. I love it when these exec’s squirm, but it seems us fans are the ones that suffer.
August 19th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
Regardless of whose fault this is, if Fox does block the release of Watchmen. Then god help them at the next comicon. I expect every Fox presentation to get booed.
I do think this we’ll block the release is an attempt to get more money then they would normally get. Because given the buzz, I don’t see how Fox could turn down the money they could get from the movie. Instead of a lump sum they would get a percentage of the profits/gross for example.
August 19th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
I find it funny people think Fox gives a crap about what the fanboys say. They make millions a year, but do the fanboys? It’s entirely possible Fox may offer to release the (same) Watchmen film themselves, as shocking as it sounds.
August 19th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
This is ridiculous. Can someone explain HOW fox can actually sue WB for Watchmen intellectual properties when WB owns DC comics, which actually owns Watchmen? I understand option rights, but WB is WB whether it’s DC or not. Fox is just having a case of sour grapes and they need to get over it.
August 19th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
You forgot another thing, Mariquisd. If Fox Studios appears any comic book convention (San Diego, New York, whichever), they’ll get booed, if Watchmen gets shelved, which IT WON’T.
But this thing makes them look desperate to have a monopoly on comic book properties.
August 19th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
This is a silly issue. If Fox really does try to block it, then well, WB can just release it via “Oh, dear, someone stole the Academy’s copy!” and then its everywhere, and NO one makes any money. Dumb. Take the settlement.
August 19th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
This is why copyright law needs to be revamped. as more mediums come out, companies scramble for “those” rights. IT never would have occured to me that WB didnt have movie rights to Watchmen. Since they had everything else for it.
There should be a way for the compnay to say “We OWN this property”. Not we own these pieces of this kind of representation of the property. It would work two-fold, firstly big companies could produce movies alot easier. Marvel/DC/everyone could just shop producers for their stuff, games and movies.
Also it would allow smaller start up companies an easier avenue. They wouldnt have to worry that someone else licensed for their character as a toy or tshirt.
August 19th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
“Can someone explain HOW fox can actually sue WB for Watchmen intellectual properties when WB owns DC comics, which actually owns Watchmen?”
Simple: Fox purchased some of those rights. Now the question is whether WB got them back fair and square.
“Kind of a dick move on Fox’s part, especially waiting until the last minute to stir this up.”
Except they didn’t. They filed suit more than a year before the film was to be released… and in the paperwork filed, they claimed that the suit was not the first attempt to tell WB there was a problem, that Fox contacted them when they became aware of WB’s planned production in mid-2007.
August 19th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
They’re just sour about Watchmen looking better than Wolverine.
August 19th, 2008 at 3:53 pm
Fox killed serenity, even when they have a Gem the kill it. F FOX!
August 19th, 2008 at 3:59 pm
This is likely a lateral move.
Fox and WB are fighting over the Batman TV show rights….expect a settlement to show up involving those.
August 19th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
Evil moneygrubbing Fox wanting a slice of the Watchmen movie? Just because ‘they secured the rights’? How dare they!
August 19th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
And just think, they’re only a couple of months away from canceling ‘Fringe’ and ‘Dollhouse,’ too.
August 19th, 2008 at 7:13 pm
Dhaise said Evil moneygrubbing Fox wanting a slice of the Watchmen movie? Just because ‘they secured the rights’? How dare they!
That’s not what Fox’s lawyers are saying they don’t want the movie to be released.
August 19th, 2008 at 8:29 pm
Fox will take money and love it that the didn’t even have to make the movie to make money.
August 20th, 2008 at 12:08 am
Hey, considering Warner and DC have spent the past 20 years screwing Alan Moore out of his rights to Watchmen, it’s only fair that they get their turn to face the consequence of their poor decisions when it comes to licensing.
August 20th, 2008 at 3:37 am
Bad move for Fox…they’re destroying any bit of goodwill they had left with the fanboys.
And now that the Watchmen graphic novel has been selling like hotcakes since the trailer appeared, there’s going to be a new (and growing!!) demographic of people who aren’t normally comic book buyers who are going to be pissed off with Fox.
I was really looking forward to the WOLVERINE movie, but if they try to block WATCHMEN I’d definitely consider a boycott! Worse comes to worse, I’d just rent the DVD.
If enough vocal people made that clear to Fox, I definitely think they’d reconsider their actions. Despite Fox’s threats, we all know that it comes down to the $$$.
August 20th, 2008 at 5:48 am
Marquisd Says:
That’s not what Fox’s lawyers are saying they don’t want the movie to be released.
That’s what the Lawyers ’say’, this is what the Lawyers ‘mean’:
“We need to take the opening position at an uncompromising hardline, so we can claim to be damaged by WB overlooking our option, THEN we take them to the cleaners because they really really really want this movie released”.
When it comes to IP, you cannot concede a single thing, ‘common sense’ does not exist…things are not ‘a little wrong’, they are TOTALLY ^%$#*($^ UP because you got stepped on. That’s how you sue for damages, not ‘fear of damage’.
August 20th, 2008 at 5:15 pm
While I don’t care for the Watchman graphic novel (I preferred Halo Jones and V for Vendetta vs. Watchmen and Marvelman) I think the movie could easily be made, maybe in more than one installment, but still done.
However I DON’T think what I have seen in the trailers looks the least bit interesting, it looks like a really bad hip hop music video. Blue Screen was neat for 300, but Felix, get a new bag of tricks!
August 20th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
Josh,
“I was really looking forward to the WOLVERINE movie, but if they try to block WATCHMEN I’d definitely consider a boycott! Worse comes to worse, I’d just rent the DVD.”
really stick it to the man, Bit Torrent that shiz!
Will WATCHMEN replay the Roger Corman FANTASTIC FOUR at Cons?
August 21st, 2008 at 3:03 pm
biggest villains- Fox Corporation– bigger than even the Richard Nixon caricature in Watchmen.. the irony is blatant..