The rights war over The Hobbit is treading on ground well beyond Middle-earth, exploring the ethical obligations of those funny characters known as "lawyers" and even reaching the obscure judicial authority of the Isle of Man.

After nearly five years in court, NCAA athletes have finally made it to trial in a landmark antitrust lawsuit that contends the National Collegiate Athletic Association and its business partners have conspired to deprive athletes of compensation in the licensing of their names, images and likenesses.

On Monday, the plaintiffs called former UCLA star Ed O'Bannon to the witness stand. "I was an athlete masquerading as a student," O'Bannon testified in an Oakland federal courtroom. "I was there strictly to play basketball."

Widower Robert Gilliam, who was estranged from That '70s Show actress Lisa Robin Kelly when she accidentally overdosed on multiple drugs at a California rehab facility in 2013, filed a wrongful death suit on June 9 in Los Angeles Superior Court against Pax House and its owners, James and Marcia Burnett.

Through the years, comedians have noted how difficult it is to suppress joke thievery. "You have a better chance of stopping a serial killer than a serial thief in comedy," offered stand-up comedian David Brenner. Noted comedian Bill Cosby opined, "If we could protect our jokes, I'd be a retired billionaire in Europe somewhere — and what I just said is original." Renowned Vaudeville and Broadway comedian W. C. Fields took a different approach.

Evan Rachel Wood is being sued for $30 million by the producers of 10 Things I Hate About Life, who claim that she breached her contract when she pulled out of the production.

Beastie Boys' suit against Monster Energy has ended, with jurors finding against the beverage company to the tune of $1.7 million.

The suit, brewing for two years before the trial began last Tuesday in New York Federal Court, centered around Monster Energy's use of a Beastie Boys "megamix," put together by DJ Z-Trip, who gave Monster Energy representative Nelson Phillips the OK to use to use his mix for the soundtrack of a four-minute-long recap video of a snowboarding competition sponsored by the company.

One year ago, Ashton Kutcher's Katalyst Media settled a lawsuit against California's Department of Motor Vehicles for backing out of a deal on a reality television show. The government agency paid $450,000 to make the lawsuit disappear.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association faced off against Dick Clark Productions before a three-judge appeals court panel Wednesday over the future of the Golden Globe Awards on the NBC network.