Watchmen Lawsuit Pt. 10: Judge Rules in Favor of Fox on Summary Judgment

The previous post regarding settlement status was rather prescient. NY Times is reporting that Judge Feess reconsidered his previous summary judgment decision and has ruled that Fox does indeed own a copyright interest in the Watchmen movie. The paper quotes the judge's December 24, 2008 ruling as stating that “Fox owns a copyright interest consisting of, at the very least, the right to distribute the ‘Watchmen’ motion picture." Furthermore, the judge stated that "the parties may wish to turn their efforts from preparing for trial to negotiating a resolution of this dispute or positioning the case for review." Frankly, this is where the case seemed to have been headed the entire time (recall the previous post discussing Fox's summary judgment motion). The order and related documents will be posted once they become available. It should be noted that this does not necessarily mean the case will be over anytime soon. Warner Brothers might decide to appeal instead of settle, thus prolonging the case longer that a trial would.