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WATCHMEN slugfest heats up
With a court ruling and no setttlement in sight the studios prepare to clash By
Rob M. Worley
December 30, 2008
Source: Various
© Mania.Com/Josh Gordon
Last week federal judge Gary A. Fees issued a ruling in the Fox vs. Warner Bros. lawsuit over 'Watchmen' indicating that Fox is on solid legal ground and at least has distribution rights over the new movie. The judge recommended energies be diverted to reaching a settlement and ordered all parties back to court on Monday, December 29th, for a status conference to determine how the case would proceed.
Well, the conference has happened and the gloves are off. According to reports in both Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, Warner Bros. is not backing down from plans to release the film on March 6th and Fox is not backing down from its threat to block that release.
Warner Bros. released this statement to the media: "We respectfully but vigorously disagree with the court's ruling and are exploring all of our appellate options. We continue to believe that Fox's claims have no merit and that we will ultimately prevail, whether at trial or in the Court of Appeals. We have no plans to move the release date of the film."
Fox also had a brief statement for the public: "We are gratified by the recognition of our rights in the Judge's order, which speaks for itself."
Of interesting note: the website UncivilSociety.org has posted a PDF containing Judge Fees' December 24th ruling as well as various documents filed by Fox and Warner Bros. It makes for fascinating reading.
While many are characterizing the Fox lawsuit as an ambush, Fox claims to have evidence that Warner Bros. was fully aware of Fox's rights with regards to 'Watchmen'. Further, they're asserting that Warner Bros willfully and maliciously decided to move forward with the production and take their chances in court.
A key player in this is producer Lawrence Gordon, who initially obtained control of the 'Watchmen' movie in a 1991 agreement with Fox and has remained attached to the development of the film up to and including its current incarnation. Apparently Gordon hasn't been too helpful as this case has unfolded. In the Christmas Eve ruling Fees wrote:
"Gordon’s testimony regarding the facts, circumstances, and events surrounding the negotiation of the 1994 agreements would have been of assistance to the Court in evaluating the objectives of the parties at that time. However, Gordon refused to testify on that subject during his deposition because he supposedly could not separate what he knows based on his own recollection from what he learned from counsel. Gordon’s counsel therefore asserted the attorney/client privilege and instructed Gordon not to answer any questions on the subject. The Court takes a dim view of this conduct and questions whether the assertion of the privilege was proper. Moreover, the assertion of the privilege does have a consequence: having now reached a decision based on the record before it, the Court will not, during the remainder of this case, receive any evidence from Gordon that attempts to contradict any aspect of this Court’s ruling on the copyright issues under discussion."
Furthermore, Fox's filings indicate that, as a legal strategy, Warner Bros may seek to protect themselves by placing blame for any chain-of-custody issues at Gordon's feet, thereby making Gordon personally responsible for any damages Fox might recoup.
Absent some settlement agreement, the case will go to trial in front of Fees on January 20th and it'll be determined then whether or not fans will get to see the most anticipated movie of 2009 on March 6th, as currently scheduled.
Thanks to Antonello Blueberry for the submission.
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Judges, been the most powerful beings in the USA, am sure will find a way to let WB release the film but they'll have to pony up. I'm not a lawyer but ever since this first made headlines and read a bit up on it, it appeared to me that Fox had a good argument. And if they have this evidence that WB purposely ignored Fox's rights , well they might as well break out the check book and rightfully so. I'm actually rooting for Fox here, if it wasn't evident already, and I'm sure the film will be released according to schedule and hopefully they'll resolve the whole thing about the Batman series in the process.
I'm finding this really intriguing. I hope tru tv carries it live.