Warner Brothers has been sued by the sole surviving relative of JRR Tolkien, the author of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, for breaching a contract and overstepping their rights regarding the merchandising of property and allowing characters of her father’s books and films to feature in online gambling games.
Priscilla Anne Reuel Tolkien together with a group of British publishers filed an $80 million lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Las Vegas on Monday claiming that Warner Bros., its New Line subsidiary and Rings/Hobbit rights holder Saul Zaentz Co. infringed the famous books’ copyright and breached a contract that was signed in 1969. It is claimed that a decades-old rights agreement only entitles the studio to create “tangible” merchandise that is based on the books and not as an online slot machine that the estate finds offensive.
The lawsuit against Lord of the Rings slots was triggered after one of Tolkien’s daughter’s lawyers received promotional information via e-mail inviting her to play Lord of the Rings slot at one of the online sites.
Warner Brothers signed a contract with Isle of Man based online casino software provider, Microgaming in February 2010 in terms of which it would create a game based on the top movie franchise.
The Lord of the Ring: Fellowship of the Ring Slot game was thereafter released to online casinos that are powered by Microgaming and has, since its launch, attracted large numbers of slot players to these sites.
Over 150 million copies of the Lord of the Rings trilogy have been sold and it is known to be the third best selling novel ever written.
Numerous Progressive jackpot online slot games are offered by Microgaming at the Fortune Lounge group of online casinos.
So far this month all big hits have taken place on The Lord of the Rings.
August 1 saw a lucky player, Marinet F, winning an amount of $41,619 wagering at Vegas Towers online casino. Claudio R was playing at Royal Vegas Online Casino when he won an amount of $40,314. Michelle M was also playing at Royal Vegas online casino when she won an amount of $24,058 while Lena T won a much smaller amount of $3,639 wagering at Platinum Play online casino on August 16.
These hits were mostly on the second highest level of the jackpot network, namely the Major progressive jackpot which is usually hit on every third day for an average payout of approximately $32,000.
The Mega jackpot is the highest level in The Lord of the Rings which is mostly more than $1,000,000. Susan C was the last player to win this big jackpot on December 28, 2011. Susan won a whopping amount of close to two million while wagering at Platinum Play online casino.
Most players at the online casinos of the Fortune Lounge group are chasing this Mega jackpot which is currently running at just over $2,000,000. Traffic on The Lord of the Rings online slot game is bound to increase at Fortune Lounge online casinos as well as all other Microgaming online casinos.
The Lord of the Rings online slot game was linked to the Mega Moolah progressive network a year after its release and its popularity has increased considerably since then.
