Tolkien fanfic writer sues Tolkien estate over copyright

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

So, I don't like his purple prose, but this guy's basic story idea is interesting. The Blue Wizards really did just kind of wander off into the East, never to be mentioned again, and the notion that there could be other ancient magics (maybe not more rings of power but other artifacts) tied to followers of Morgoth, and part of a plan to bring Morgoth himself back...that's a fine D&D campaign. And I like that it is built around Sam's eldest daughter. Bringing in a few other characters that we barely got to meet in LotR is a solid idea, too.

Don't get me wrong; the quality of the writing looks terrible. But as far as fan fiction goes, this is a solid premise.

If Polychron's energy went into making the best darn The One Ring campaign ever, all of this could have been avoided.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Samwise, Rose, and the Disappearing Took

I feel like we may be going with different versions of "fantasy" here.

 

[trappedslider]

The guy who sued Amazon for infringing on his Lord of the Rings fanfic takes a massive L, now owes $134,000 to the Tolkien Estate

Author Demetrious Polychron wanted $250 million for infringement of his book The Fellowship of the King.

www.pcgamer.com

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

How about a series of LotR-based romance novels, with hobbitized Fabio wannabe cover illustrations?

Well then…how about

50 Shades of Gravy

 

[GreyLord]

He should have taken the smarter way with his LotR fantasy.

Rewritten it just enough so that it could be called something else...

Like Shannara or Dragonlance or something.

 

[CapnZapp]

lol This is jaw-droppingly stupid.

 

[Dioltach]

Like Shannara or Dragonlance or something.

Or the Iron Tower Trilogy. Which, if I remember rightly, came about because the author wanted to write a sequel to LotR, but didn't get permission.

 

[Staffan]

I mean, I'm on record as believing that today's copyright periods are far too long, with something like 20 or 30 years being more reasonable – so under reasonable copyright law, his fanfic would have been perfectly OK. But even then, it takes some serious chutzpah to sue the original owner for infringement.

 

[Willie the Duck]

I mean, I'm on record as believing that today's copyright periods are far too long, with something like 20 or 30 years being more reasonable – so under reasonable copyright law, his fanfic would have been perfectly OK. But even then, it takes some serious chutzpah to sue the original owner for infringement.

That, more than anything, is the part that gets me. The rest of the situation is unremarkable. Wanting to take a crack at writing in your favorite narrative universe is so common we have terms dedicated to the concept. The wish to be able to do so and eventually make a profit from the endeavor has spawned countless actual successes. Naturally, Sturgeon's Law applies here as anywhere else. It's that this fellow thought that some not-exactly-novel plot elements showing in both his books and the show (both Tolkien fanfiction, one lawfully sanctioned by the rights-holders) was proof that his Intellectual Property rights were being violated is the height of silliness.

Question to others-- anyone think it is feasible that this started as someone just ballsedly trying to incent a bigger dog pay to make them go away (because it'd be the cheaper and easier option) rather than a real attempt at being successful in their claim? We certainly speculated on that with LaNasa/NuTSR.

 

[Ryujin]

Question to others-- anyone think it is feasible that this started as someone just ballsedly trying to incent a bigger dog pay to make them go away (because it'd be the cheaper and easier option) rather than a real attempt at being successful in their claim? We certainly speculated on that with LaNasa/NuTSR.

Intellectual property that is not defended, can lose that status for the creator. The Tolkien Estate has been particularly litigious. Put those two together and anyone who thought that they could obtain a payout might as well just put their savings in a shredder.