Claiming at least $80 million in damages from unauthorized merchandising, the Tolkien estate is suing Warner Brothers over expanded use of imagery and story line of the Lord
The Lord of the Rings slot by WMS is the subject of a lawsuit of the Rings. A Lord of the Rings-themed casino slot machine, manufactured by WMS Gaming features the characters, events and imagery from the book. According to the lawsuit, "Lord of the Rings fans have publicly expressed confusion and consternation at seeing The Lord of the Rings associated with the morally questionable (and decidedly non-literary) world of online and casino gambling. Rampant are comments such as “I actually feel angry about this…this insults Tolkien…[and] is a nasty, greedy, ugly act…Whoever is responsible should be
ashamed of themselves,” and “if this isn’t prostituting art, I don’t know what is.”
The suit asserts damage to the goodwill the literary estate has painstakingly cultivated over the years.
Warner Brothers has declined to comment on the suit.