O’Melveny & Myers and Arnold & Porter want to disqualify Greenberg Glusker Fields Claman & Machtinger from representing the J.R.R. Tolkien estate and HarperCollins Publishers Ltd. in a suit against two movie studios over digital merchandising rights to the “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit.”
In a motion filed Monday in Los Angeles federal court, Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (represented by O’Melveny) and The Saul Zaentz Company (represented by Arnold & Porter) claim that Greenberg Glusker is inappropriately representing two former in-house lawyers at United Artists Corporation. The studios claim those two lawyers hammered out the original 1969 film rights agreements, and that Greenberg Glusker has invaded the attorney-client privilege and accessed confidential information. (Warner Bros. and Saul Zaents acquired the movie rights from UA.)
