A Los Angeles federal judge has in a surprise ruling stated he intends to grant 20th Century Fox's claim as the owner of a copyright interest in 'Watchmen', a film by Warner Brothers and Legendary Pictures, which is scheduled for March release. The five-page written order issued Wednesday by Judge Gary A. Feess, of the United States District Court for Central California says, a more detailed order will be provided very soon.

Based on a novel by the same name, Fox has sought to prevent Warner from releasing the superhero adventure film, one of most eagerly anticipated releases for next year.

Judge Feess, who previously thought that issues in the case could only be settled after a trial, scheduled for late January, changed his mind on Wednesday saying on reconsidering he has concluded, Fox should prevail on crucial issues. According to the ruling: 'Fox owns a copyright interest consisting of, at the very least, the right to distribute the 'Watchmen' motion picture.'

Apparently, in late 1980s, Fox acquired the rights to the 'Watchmen' graphic novel for producer Laurence Gordon, but later dropped the idea of making a film based on the novel, about the underside of being a super-being.

Gordon, on his part pursued the project with Universal Pictures and then with Paramount Pictures, before he shot the film with Warner and Legendary, as long as Paramount was allowed to distribute the film abroad.

Advising both Fox and Warner to either settle or go in for an appeal, Judge Feess said: '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.'

It is not clear how Fox and Warner will resolve the dispute, however, Warner Bros., a unit of Time Warner Inc., may pay Fox a lump sum or give it a cut of a portion of the profits. As well, it is not certain if Fox will have to pay some of the production costs under such an arrangement.