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A Los Angeles judge has ruled in favour of 20th Century Fox in the Watchmen copyright case.
The studio filed a lawsuit against studio Warner Bros in February, claiming that they still owned a portion of the rights to any movie adaptation of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons's graphic novel. The filing alleged that Fox still owned the rights to distribute the first Watchmen feature film.
According to the suit, producer Lawrence Gordon never exercised his right to purchase the remaining rights to Watchmen as he took the project to other studios, meaning that Fox has retained copyright interest since 1994.
Los Angeles federal judge Gary Allen Feess ruled in favour of Fox, saying in a five-page judgement: "Fox owns a copyright interest consisting of, at the very least, the right to distribute the Watchmen motion picture."
Feess urged Warner Bros and Fox to settle the dispute or face a lengthy trial that would mean the superhero epic's March 6 release is shelved.
"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," said Feess.
> Click here for our interview with Watchmen artist Dave Gibbons
