Hobbit wine boss battles movie giant
A TALL wife and her short husband are in a legal battle over whether they can use the word “Hobbit” in the name of their wine business.
Stuart and Elise Whittaker set up Giraffe and Hobbit, based in Goldalming in Surrey, which imports wine from Provence, France, in the summer of 2014, the name being intended to poke fun at the difference in their heights.
But American company Middleearth Enterprises, which owns the copyright to the word “Hobbit”, is trying to block the couple’s attempt to register the company as a trademark.
Mr Whittaker said his firm had applied for the trademark with the Intellectual Property Office and it “had nothing to do with the Hobbit film or
Lord of the Rings”.
“It is a reference to the fact that my wife is quite tall and I’m not so tall.
“You have to have a sense of humour about yourself. We’ve always had a bit of fun with each other.”
After attempting to register their trademark, the couple received a “notice of threatened opposition” from American film company The Saul Zaentz Company, which trades as Middleearth Enterprises and owns the rights to much of JRR Tolkien’s work. “Tolkien admitted himself that he didn’t come up with the word ‘Hobbit’ – it was mentioned in a great many other places,” Mr Whittaker said. “It has a common usage in films, books and articles to describe little people.
“We are not actually calling ourselves ‘The Hobbit’; we’re not using any merchandise or Tolkien characters. It needs to be looked at as a whole. There are a lot of references to this be-
‘We’re not using any merchandise or Tolkien characters – it needs to be looked at as a whole’
ing a case of the big guys taking on the little guys – like we’re the Hobbits taking on the dragon.”
The Whittakers have a hearing at the Intellectual Property Office on Mar 30.
In 2012 a pub in Southampton called The Hobbit got into a row with the same company over its name. The dispute was resolved after actors including Sir Ian McKellen – who played Gandalf in the Hobbit and Lord of the Rings films – offered to pay a nominal licencing fee.