As much as I admire Peter Jackson and his creative abilities, I just don’t see that he (or the defunct WNW) “owns” the potential scale model that would be produced from the molds or the molds, themselves.
He might as well claim ownership of the Lancaster design itself.
There are any number of examples of creative processes used to create tangible items which do not confer ownership or control of those items to the person or persons involved in the initial creative process. There are layers of separation from the individual, personal creative process and their ultimate use in manufacturing. As a corporate entity, WNW’s assets, including the products of the creative processes of its employees (who were, themselves, already paid for their efforts), are subject to sale by its creditors who may have possession of those assets to resolve WNW’s debts to them.
Furthermore, there is a long and well established industry practice whereby the molds for this or that scale model kit have been sold and resold with no concern or residual remuneration to the individual or individuals who originally did the research and designs that enabled those molds to be cut. Many model companies have gone out of business over the years resulting in sales of their assets to pay off their debts, and the molds they once owned are generally among the most important of these assets to be sold to resolve their debts. WNW is no different.
In short, PJ and WNW has defaulted on the debt to the company that cut the molds. The molds were certainly the assets which secured the contract between WNW and the mold cutting company, and possession, control and selling those assets to make good the defaulted debt is reasonable and legal. This is similar in concept to a bank repossessing a home or automobile in recompense for a defaulted loan on those assets. The car, the home and these molds are the collateral that secured the debt between the two parties.
PJ and WNW, no doubt still owns and retains custody of files cabinets (real and virtual) full of the intellectual property used to design and create those molds, but that has no practical implications with regard to the future production of any kits made from the molds. You might as well also say that the British government also has the same claim on any scale Lancaster model ever produced or ever to be produced.
I’m on the side of Border with this one. Sorry, PJ and WNW, but you no longer own the molds nor the rights to anything produced by the use of those molds. You defaulted on your debt, and the assets that secured that debt now belong to your creditor. Be glad that perhaps your creditor considers your debt resolved and paid with the sale of the molds to Border.