新西兰英语 689 Lord of the Rings court case

 　　The Lord of the Rings author was JRR Tolkien. He was a Professor of English Language and Literature at Oxford¹ University in England. He died in 1973, aged² 81.

　　He signed the movie rights to a company in Hollywood in 1969. This included rights to sell ‘tangible’ objects like models of the characters in the movies. ‘Tangible’ means things you can see and touch. However, now Hollywood is using Lord of the Rings characters for on-line gambling³. Of course in 1969 it was impossible to imagine things like online games.

　　Now the Tolkien Trust as well as the publisher of the books, HarperCollins, are taking Warner Brothers to court in Los Angeles for US$80m.

　　The Tolkien Trust and HarperCollins are also worried that the movies, the sale of objects from the movies and other possible developments in the future – like a theme park – take people away from the books.

　　This is not the first court case between the Tolkien Trust and Hollywood. In 2008, the Trust sued⁴ New Line (owned by Warner Brothers) for a 7.5% share of the profits from the first two films. New Line said they had not made a profit because it was very expensive to make the movies, but in the end, the Tolkien Trust won the case.

　　Note: The premier⁵ (the first night) of The Hobbit is in Wellington on Wednesday this week.

　　Vocabulary

　　Tolkien Trust – a charitable organisation⁶ set up in 1977 by Tolkien’s four children. The money is used to help people around the world.

　　publisher – the company which buys the rights from the author to sell the book

　　to sue – to take someone to a civil court for breaking a contract

1 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

2 aged   

adj.年老的，陈年的

参考例句：

• He had put on weight and aged a little.他胖了，也老点了。
• He is aged,but his memory is still good.他已年老，然而记忆力还好。

3 gambling   

n.赌博；投机

参考例句：

• They have won a lot of money through gambling.他们赌博赢了很多钱。
• The men have been gambling away all night.那些人赌了整整一夜。

4 sued   

v.（为要求赔偿损失而）起诉( sue的过去式和过去分词 )；控告；请求；要求（尤用于法庭）

参考例句：

• The company sued for defamation. 这个公司因受到诽谤而提起诉讼。
• He sued the newspaper for libel. 他起诉那家报社犯有诽谤罪。

5 premier   

adj.首要的；n.总理，首相

参考例句：

• The Irish Premier is paying an official visit to Britain.爱尔兰总理正在对英国进行正式访问。
• He requested that the premier grant him an internview.他要求那位总理接见他一次。

6 organisation   

n.组织，安排，团体，有机休

参考例句：

• The method of his organisation work is worth commending.他的组织工作的方法值得称道。
• His application for membership of the organisation was rejected.他想要加入该组织的申请遭到了拒绝。