Selling Gandalf action figures is one thing, but putting Frodo in a slot machine was going too far.

That was the conclusion of author J.R.R. Tolkien’s estate after it learned Warner Bros., the movie studio responsible for The Lord of Rings trilogy and The Hobbit, developed The Fellowship of the Ring: Online Slot Game.

Tolkien’s estate claims the studio and the film’s producers, Saul Zaentz Co., exceeded their merchandising rights in using the movies’ character for a gambling enterprise.

The contract between Zaentz, who purchased the rights to the trilogy in 1976, and Tolkien included “a limited grant of the right to sell consumer products of the type regularly merchandised at the time such as figurines, tableware, stationery items, clothing and the like,” wrote the estate’s attorneys in a civil complaint. “They did not include any grant of exploitations such as electronic or digital rights, rights in media yet to be devised or other intangibles such as rights in services.”

The Tolkiens also contend that their father, who was a devout Catholic, never would have approved using his creations in slot machines.

The family wants a federal judge to grant an injunction putting a halt to the slot machine game. They also seek $80 million in damages.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

To Learn More

Tolkien Estate Sues Warner Bros. Over 'Lord of the Rings' Slot Machines (by Matthew Belloni, Hollywood Reporter)

Tolkiens Aghast at Warner Bros.' Exploitation of Middle Earth (by William Dotinga, Courthouse News Service)

Fourth Age Ltd. v. Warner Bros. (U.S. District Court, Central California) (pdf)