In a bizarre lawsuit filing, Global Findability says it's already patented something called "Integrated Information Processing System For Geospatial Media." And the lawsuit claims that Knowing includes (and therefore sells) "geospatial object entity code", or "geocode" for short. In other words — those GPS coordinates for future disasters, embedded in the 1950s scrap of paper? It's a real thing. Explains Global Findability:

Upon information and belief, defendants Summit and Escape, LLC, have made, used, offered to sell, and/or sold, and continues to make use, offer to sell, and/or sell, the Film, within this Judicial District, including, without limitation, the Geocode® product that infringes Global Findability's Patents.

Actually, judging from the patent itself, they've just patented a method of scheduling filming of particular events by location and time, and embedding location and time data in the recording afterwards. But it's kind of a confusing patent, to be honest.

Apparently Global Findability is not a totally fly-by-night operation, filing frivolous patents and lawsuits for fun. According to the Hollywood Reporter, its board includes tech mover-and-shaker Peter Morville, and it's represented by attorney Federick Samuels, who used to work for the Trademark And Patent Office.

So does this mean that Global Findability knows where the next deadly hurricane or plane crash will hit? And they're holding out on us? [Lawsuit Filing via THREsq]

You've probably already heard about the lawsuit and the bankruptcy filing — but we've read the legal filings, and we have some more info about the tangled web below. The most important question for movie-lovers, however, is: Does this mean Terminator 5 (and 6) are doomed? Will the legal battles and money disputes keep the movie rights tied up indefinitely?

People familiar with the lawsuits tell io9 that Terminator 5 will definitely still happen — although different sources disagree about how long it'll take. But sources seem to agree that Terminator Salvation made too much money ($371 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo) for anyone to stand in the way of a fifth outing.

"Terminator 4 was a big hit, and everybody who was connected with that movie was pretty happy with it, and the're looking forward to a Terminator 5 and a Terminator 6 down the road," says a source familiar with Halcyon. All that needs to happen is for Halcyon to get rid of some liens that its financing company put on its assets (see below) and the company will move forward. (The holding company only filed for Chapter 11, or restructuring, bankruptcy.) Even though Terminator Salvation was more expensive than anticipated — something Halcyon blames on Pacificor — it still made a healthy profit.

Another source familiar with the case agrees, but says that the courts may have to get involved in the question of who owns the Terminator movie rights, and that may take some time. At the end of the day, someone will emerge holding those rights, and that someone will be highly motivated to put together another installment — but it may or may not be Halcyon co-founders Victor Kubicek and Derek Anderson.

So how did we reach this apocalyptic legal scenario?

The Terminator movie rights are at the center of a massive power struggle between the producers of Terminator 4 and their financial backers, and the allegations are already flying like a squad of Hunter-Killers. We read the filings that Halcyon Co. put forth in their lawsuit against their financing company (Pacificor) and one exec in particular, Kurt Benjamin, and it reads like a thriller, with deception, double-crosses, deadly plane crashes and ticking clocks.

In a nutshell, Halcyon got wind of an opportunity to buy the Terminator franchise in 2006, but to do this they needed to raise cash in a hurry. Halcyon co-founders Victor Kubicek and Derek Anderson met up with Kurt Benjamin, who helped raise money from Pacificor. But in their lawsuit, Halcyon claims that Benjamin never revealed that he was an employee of Pacificor. So Halcyon allegedly gave inside information to Benjamin — including the fact that they were desperate to raise money in time to buy the Terminator rights — and then Benjamin turned around and gave that info to Pacificor. That inside info allegedly allowed Pacificor to strong-arm Halcyon into agreeing to tougher loan terms.

Later, Benjamin allegedly used his inside info about Halcyon to extort a salary out of the company, driving it deeper into debt and forcing it to seek a second loan from Pacificor at tougher terms. After Pacificor's founder died in a plane crash, Halcyon allegedly became even more dependent on Benjamin to negotiate continuing finance from Pacificor, because Benjamin claimed nobody else at Pacificor even knew about the Terminator deal. Halcyon claims it was left with no choice but to pay up Benjamin's alleged "blackmail," which added to its debt load — at one point, Halcyon claims that it worried it would run out of money a scant few months before T4 was due to come out.

The upshot of all this is that Halcyon is apparently deeper in debt to Pacificor than the Terminator producers had bargained on. And according to their legal filings, Pacificor put a lien on all their assets "in a deliberate and desperate attempt to seize control and ownership of the Halcyon entities and the [Terminator] franchise," and to keep Halcyon from paying off its creditors. "As a result of the Lien, Halcyon has been unable to obtain financing that would enable [it] to meet its obligations, which could potentially result in Halcyon's loss of the [Terminator] Franchise."

A spokesperson for Halcyon declined to comment on pending litigation.

But Benjamin, the main defendant in one of Halcyon's two legal actions, tells io9 "everything that's alleged in their lawsuit, every allegation, is a lie." He adds: "This is just salacious creative writing, and I highly recomend that they and their lawyers work more on writing science fiction."

Both the Halcyon co-founders and their attorney knew all along that Benjamin worked for Pacificor, he claims. And far from acting as a go-between in the lending negotiations between Pacificor and Halcyon, Benjamin says he had no part in the discussions once he introduced the two parties. And after Pacificor's founder was killed in that plane crash, Anderson and Kubicek "coerced me to work with them," says Benjamin. Benjamin claims he wasn't even drawing a salary from Pacificor — he was just paid on commission for any deals he set up, which means his first paycheck didn't even materialize until January 2008.

And the reason why Terminator Salvation wound up costing more than expected, according to Benjamin? Producers Anderson and Kubicek wasted the money on personal expenses. "They're known in most Hollywood circles as the glitter twins," claims Benjamin. "The minute these guys got the funding, they went on wild spending sprees."

It was a huge surprise when Halcyon Co., a small production company whose main other claim to fame is having first right of refusal on the film rights of all Philip K. Dick novels, successfully won the rights to the Terminator movie franchise, and actually got a Terminator movie made. Now Halcyon is suing the finance company that helped it achieve that feat, Pacificor, plus one of the company's employees, Kurt Benjamin. (Benjamin is accused of various types of fraud, including disguising the fact that he worked for Pacificor when he arranged the deal between Halcyon and Pacificor in the first place.)

Reading the details of the lawsuit, you encounter a certain level of paranoia that Halcyon won't be able to raise any more money for another Terminator film — or that Halcyon will lose control over the Terminator franchise altogether, or possibly come under the direct ownership of Pacificor. Halcyon co-founders Derek Anderson and Victor Kubicek accuse Pacificor of tricking Halcyon into spending its own money on a Terminator Salvation video game, thus bringing Halcyon close to financial ruin. Benjamin is accused of forcing Halcyon to deal exclusively with Pacificor, preventing Halcyon from seeking financing elsewhere. And the suit also claims that Pacificor's execs, plus Terminator producer Moritz Borman, deliberately pushed Salvation over budget so that Halcyon would default, and Pacificor could grab the rights to the Terminator franchise away from Halcyon.

Like I said, reading between the lines, it doesn't sound like a suit filed by a company that's confident of being able to make another installment in the series in the near future. The bottom line appears to be that Halcyon currently owes more money to Pacificor than it can possibly pay back, and may end up having to hand over the Terminator rights as part of a settlement. How this would affect McG's plans to make a time-traveling fifth movie is anybody's guess. It's possible Pacificor (and Borman, if he's on board) would be thrilled to have a second McG outing.

Halcyon didn't return our calls seeking comment.

[L.A. Times and The Wrap]

According to Variety, Tessa Dick is suing Electric Shepherd Productions, the production company founded by Dick's daughters, Laura Leslie and Isa Dick Hackett. She's seeking proceeds from A Scanner Darkly and the movie rights to Ubik, which is already in production. Electric Shepherd worked with Richard Linklater on Scanner Darkly. The suit alleges that Electric Shepherd had "disclaimed" any obligation to Tessa Dick for the proceeds from Ubik, and Variety adds:

The suit also asserts that Tessa Dick, the author's fifth wife, is entitled to the proceeds of the two novels as a result of the 1976 divorce agreement in which she relinquished her interest to a number of other projects the writer had started, completed or published during their relationship.

Dick is also suing Celluloid Dreams, Scovil Chichak Galen Literary Agency, Russell Galen and the Halcyon Co. The Halcyon Co. (which is producing Terminator Salvation and just settled a lawsuit relating to that film) signed a three-year first-look deal for the movie rights to all of Dick's novels and short stories in 2007. But a representative of Halcyon tells Variety the company passed on making a movie of Ubik, and therefore isn't involved in the suit. (And it sounds like Halcyon's deal is going to expire with no movie made.)

We tried to reach Electric Shepherd for comment, but they didn't respond in time. [Variety]

Rich Johnson with Lying In The Gutters cites sources who claim the whole Watchmen lawsuit is just a ploy by Fox to get the rights to release the 1960s Batman TV series on DVD. Allegedly, Fox owns the rights to the actual footage starring Adam West as the less growly version of the character, but Warner Bros. owns the copyrights to Batman and all the other characters. So Fox's Watchmen suit is aimed at brokering a Bat-deal where Warners okays DVDs of Bruce's campiest moments, in exchange for a go-ahead with Zack Snyder's "Batman can't get it up" movie.

(A side note: I'm a tad embarrassed — I thought the 60s Batman show was on DVD already, or I would have mentioned it for sure in my roundup of great science fiction TV that isn't on DVD yet. Also, sorry about Misfits of Science too.)

Other sources, like TV Shows On DVD, say it's not that simple — even if Fox gets Warners to agree to let Batman out of this fiendish rights trap, they still have to negotiate new contracts with every actor, propmaker and craft services worker from the original show. That's because the original 1960s contracts only covered broadcast rights. (But I'm wondering if that isn't the case with every classic show that gets released on DVD? Don't most of those shows have contracts only covering first run and syndication rights, not other formats? And yet, we get every episode of Matlock on DVD.) In any case, even the TV Shows people say it's quite likely that Batman will be the peacemaker who steps in and settles this bitter dispute between two media giants over Bruce's almost-lookalike and his dysfunctional friends. [Lying In The Gutters and TV Shows on DVD via IGN]

Fox is seeking an injunction to stop the March release of Warners' Watchmen movie, and they've managed to find the most sympathetic judge in L.A., Lawrence Feess. In a nutshell, Fox argues that Warners obtained movie rights from producer Lawrence Gordon, but Fox already owned the rights to distribute any movie made by Gordon. In a similar case involving the Dukes movie, Judge Feess granted a preliminary injunction preventing Warners from releasing the film.

But in the Hazzard case, Warner Bros. agreed to pay the plaintiffs at least $17.5 million to settle their claims, and the movie came out as planned. (In retrospect, Warners may regret that settlement, considering how badly Dukes did.) It seems likely that Fox is simply lining up for a payout, and Watchmen will come out on time — but it'll simply be even more expensive than Warner Bros. already bargained on. Watchmen Babies image from Time.com. [New York Times]