Hussar
Legend
As far as Tolkien style hobbits go, you haven't got a hope here. There is absolutely no way Hasbro's legal would let WOTC do that. When TSR ripped off the Tolkien estate in the 70's, you had a smallish estate suing a smallish company. Not a huge amount of money involved.
Now, imagine what would happen when you've got movie studios and whatnot, suing a multi-billion dollar company like Hasbro. You're talking years of litigation (presuming they don't just settle) which is going to cost more than WOTC will make in years. It wouldn't take much for some judge to whack on a great honking punitive damage to stop the big company from doing it again.
There is no way that Hasbro legal would ever let WOTC even think about trying it. This is why you're seeing such a shift away from Tolkien. Or at least one of the reasons. If they create their own identity, no one's going to come along in a couple of years and sue the crap out of them.
Now, imagine what would happen when you've got movie studios and whatnot, suing a multi-billion dollar company like Hasbro. You're talking years of litigation (presuming they don't just settle) which is going to cost more than WOTC will make in years. It wouldn't take much for some judge to whack on a great honking punitive damage to stop the big company from doing it again.
There is no way that Hasbro legal would ever let WOTC even think about trying it. This is why you're seeing such a shift away from Tolkien. Or at least one of the reasons. If they create their own identity, no one's going to come along in a couple of years and sue the crap out of them.
