Miscellaneous

Lawsuit Day, Part 1!

Man, there were so many stories about lawsuits yesterday that it was like a friggin holiday, I'll tell you what.

First, I read a story about 20th Century Fox suing Warner Brothers over the upcoming Watchmen flick. Seems 20th Century owned the movie rights from 1986 through 1990. Things got a bit complicated after that, but Fox says it still owns the rights, thank you kindly Mr. Warner Brothers, and one imagines Warners is going to have to pay a pretty penny to get rid of this pesky lawsuit before the flick's slated March 6, 2009 movie. Otherwise, the answer to "who watches the Watchmen" might be "nobody."

(See what I did right there, with that? That's why I pay myself nothing to write these stupid entries. And I'm worth every last damn penny!)

Meanwhile, a DC lady has sued Best Buy for a hefty $54 million. Seems that she took her laptop to a local store in '06 to have some work done under her extended warranty. And while she was away on a business trip, wouldn't you know it if the store lost her 'puter. After some fussing and feuding, Best Buy offered her a $900 gift card. She said, "thanks but no thanks," and filed a lawsuit. Best Buy then offered her $2,100 plus a $500 gift card but, hell, she's got a lawsuit for $54 million now, and that'll buy a whole heckuva lot of laptops, so she's going to stick with the lawsuit. The guys at Engadget summed it up thusly:

Campbell says she's not dropping the case until she finds out what happened to her machine -- and she wants ol' Blue to train its employees on privacy issues and revamp its warranty policy. Honestly? We'd say she has a better chance of getting the $54 million.

In more movie lawsuit news, the estate of J.R.R. Tolkein, who wrote a little book trilogy called "The Lord of the Rings," has sued New Line Cinema over the movie trilogy. The estate says it hasn't been paid cent one yet of the 7.5 percent of the films' gross revenue due to it, despite the movies grossing about $6 billion (with a B) worldwide. All they've allegedly gotten is a measly $62,500 upfront payment, which is just a touch less than 7.5% of $6 billion. If the estate gets the $150+ million it's seeking, I think it should use some of that cash to build a real shire, you know?

Ok, I'll have two more lawsuits for you in a bit. Gotta' get some real work done for a change.

Full post as published by Quiz Law on February 13, 2008 (boomark / email).