It’s now confirmed that Watchmen will not be delayed—Fox and WB have settled. I like this bit particularly:
Fox also pried a public admission from Warner that it had not been greedy. “Warner Brothers acknowledges that Fox acted in good faith in bringing its claims,” a joint statement said. That line was particularly important to Fox, which has come under fire on the Web from “Watchmen” fans who feared that the studio’s efforts would delay the film’s release.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and purport to speak for the fans. From our perspective, we had no problem with the fact that Fox was enforcing its rights under copyright law. Our issue was with Fox’s attempt to enjoin the release of this film. Which it tried to do, so I don’t think this concern is too broad.
Ultimately, I think the request to enjoin release was simply a lever to use in negotiations, and a pretty standard one. But Fox needs to realize that there are consequences outside the litigation when some tactics are chosen over others. This realization depends on lawyers who understand not just their client’s business, but various intricacies of the field that they’re in, and the conclusions observers will draw about their client. See RIAA lawsuits. These lawyers aren’t terribly easy to come by.
Incidentally, there’s a fascinating discussion thread on The Volokh Conspiracy. There are significant spoilers, so don’t read the thread if you haven’t read the original Watchmen book.
But if you haven’t read Watchmen, you should be doing that right now, anyway.
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