For those who want to check out the original source material, here are the the Fox complaint, Warner Brothers’ response, the disputed legal documents and the judge’s order.
Arguably the most explosive sentence in the order: “It is particularly noteworthy that nothing on the face of the complaint or the documents supplied to the Court establishes that Gordon, the claimed source of Warner Brothers’ interest in ‘Watchmen,’ ever acquired any rights in ‘Watchmen.’”
As several reports state, Warner Brothers faced a similar situation before, when, in 2005, the same judge granted a preliminary injunction that would have kept The Dukes of Hazzard movie from being released, prompting the studio to agree to a multimillion dollar settlement. The plaintiff’s lawyer in the Hazzard case: Marc Toberoff, who is now representing the Siegel heirs.
August 19th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
I was soo looking forward to this… I hate FOX right now… but when House comes back on then we’ll talk…
August 19th, 2008 at 9:00 pm
Great judge !
*roll eyes*
August 20th, 2008 at 8:19 am
So… What happens if Fox actually wins? Can Warners release it direct to video? Is this just domestic distribution, or worldwide?
Who Watches The Watchmen?
August 20th, 2008 at 10:23 am
Yeah, really. Great judge. What with making sure the legal rights of whoever optioned them are respected. Whether anyone wants to see the movie or not doesn’t pertain to this.
Movie wise, anyway. It should all go to Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons.
October 10th, 2008 at 2:44 am
Wait a minute! –I– own the rights to this movie!!! (but grease me a littel now that principal photography is done and I’ll let it be…
“Honk if you love justice.”
December 29th, 2008 at 10:07 pm
ALL FOX programming will be blocked in my household, and all FOX advertisers will know how I feel.