Tolkien Estate Strikes Again: Forces Summer Camp To Change Name
from the because-of-all-that-confusion dept
Christopher Tolkien and the estate of JRR Tolkien has a long history of overly aggressive attempts to stop anyone from using any sort of Tolkien-related content. The latest target: evil summer camps. Apparently the Tolkien estate has forced a Calgary summer camp to change its name, because it was called Rivendell, after the elven outpost in The Lord of the Rings. The camp received a cease-and-desist:"While our clients do not believe that you intended to infringe their intellectual property rights, you will understand that they have an obligation to protect these valuable rights and carefully to preserve the integrity of the Tolkien works."Unfortunately, the article does not show the full letter, nor does it explain if the letter highlighted exactly which intellectual property rights the estate is complaining about. Does the estate have a trademark on "rivendell" in Canada? Does the estate use the term in commerce anywhere in order to get a trademark? Does that trademark cover summer camps? All of that seems doubtful.
Either way, the camp just backed down and changed its name, noting that the whole LotR thing was getting pretty tired, anyway. Nicely done, Christopher, you've just made sure that a whole bunch of kids will no longer have a positive summer camping experience associated with the name Rivendell...
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Kind of stupid
Sad.. and bad marketting.
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Re: Kind of stupid
But the Tolkiens are the one with the money, while this is just some summer camp. The summer camp folks know that they're perfectly in their legal right to name it Rivendell (as noted in the article itself), but they don't want to waste money fighting some frivolous lawsuit.
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Re: Re: Kind of stupid
Interviewer: These children are going to the most glamorous of all summer camps: Camp Mohawk. There's a two year waiting list and every child has to be voted in. On top of that it costs $1,000 a week to to go to Camp Mohawk. The question is, is it worth a $1,000 a week?
Tripper: [walks over] It sure is. It's the best darn camp there is.
Interviewer: Well, are you connected with Camp Mohawk?
Tripper: Well, I think so, I'm the program director; Jerry Aldini.
Interviewer: Well, how do you justify a $1,000 a week.
Tripper: Well, we have some special programs. Uh, we're doing Shakespeare in the Round again this year, of course. Uh, our political round table, Henry Kissinger will appear. Yasser Arafat is gonna come out, spend a weekend with the kids. Just rap with them.
Interviewer: That's amazing!
Tripper: And the kids wanted animals. So this year, each camper will stalk and kill his own bear in our private wildlife preserve.
Interviewer: Are you sure the children can, uh, can hack that?
Tripper: We'll see. But, the real excitement, of course, is gonna come at the end of the summer, uh, during Sexual Awareness Week. We import 200 hookers from around the world, and each camper, armed with only a thermos of coffee and $2,000 cash, tries to visit as many countries as he can and the winner, of course, is named King of Sexual Awareness Week and is allowed to rape and pillage the neighboring towns until camp ends.
Interviewer: That's incredible.
Tripper: What'd you expect for $1,000 a week. Hey, you have a good summer too, huh?
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aha, another case
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A quick Google search
Sounds like a good place for a class action suit to shut the Tolkien estate down permanently.
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Re: A quick Google search
This doesnt make sense...there must be more to it because there's PLENTY of other entities with the name Rivendell. Why did the estate single out this one.
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Re: Re: A quick Google search
Look into the palantir, Chris. THE EYE YOU SEE IS YOUR OWN!
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Re: Re: A quick Google search
Actually, they probably have a huge list and are simply working their way through it trying to get a pay out from as many people as they can.
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A Post from the blogs of Rivendell
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http://www.globaltvcalgary.com/Bragg+Creek+summer+camp+ordered+drop+Lord+Rings+theme/4603 975/story.html
Excerpt from the Calgary Herald:
http://www.calgaryherald.com/technology/Tolkien+Estate+amused+Bragg+Creek+camp+name/46062 52/story.html
Maier, acting on behalf of the Tolkien Estate, wrote Rupert a polite - one might say slightly precious - letter demanding the association dispense with the Tolkien references.
In an e-mail response to the Herald Tuesday, Maier countered the proliferation of Internet sites that accuse the Tolkien Estate of being a tad on the litigious side. "It is incorrect to say that the Tolkien Estate is litigious, as it is very rarely involved in court proceedings," he wrote. "The Tolkien Estate only pursues legal action in the very rare cases of parties who, for whatever reason, are determined to deny the Estate's entitlement to protect its property."
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Re:
Much better...
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Truly disgusting
Nice one, Christopher. Yer dad is spinning in his grave.
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Re: Truly disgusting
I guess the Tolkien Estate should be happy that the centuries have separated them from the tough viking SOBs who could come arount to assert the rights over their "property", huh?
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Actual Christopher quote: I have to protect MY PRECIOUS... intellectual property.
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Why can't I have an estate that I did nothing to inherit outside of being born and riding daddy's coattails to give me an inflated sense of legal entitlement.
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Re:
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Copyright lasts too long
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Oh oh they better send out more C&Ds!
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Re:
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And batman/spiderman/superman etc. Seriously, these and other IP are completely played out, is this really the extent of the fantasy creativity of our species?
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USA is screwed
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The activities covered comprise a massive list, so massive that it's spread out over no less than seven trade-mark registrations, all for the same term. I didn't see "children's outdoor camp" in the list anywhere, but I may have missed it.
It does bring a couple of questions to mind though. First, does the Tolkien estate have any standing to enforce a trade-mark if they're not the trade-mark holder? If so, why?
The other question is is this company involved in all these various fields? If not, why are they allowed to prevent others from using the term in ways that do not lead to confusion with thefields the company actually operates in?
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Copyright - protect it or lose it
The way trademarks it set up, isn't it so that you have an obligation to actively enforce it once you get it? In other words, if they don't actively keep after people trying to "dilute" it, they will eventually be unable to argue that they have any exclusive right at all since it is clearly being used everywhere already (or words to that effect.)
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Re: Copyright - protect it or lose it
Don't tell that to Monster Cable though!
http://www.techdirt.com/blog/?company=monster+cable
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I bet
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trademarks
They've got two granted US trademarks and a host of others in application.
Pretty clear how "they can do this". A small bit of checking (3 minutes?) would have revealed this.
In order to maintain a trademark, one must protect it. Whether or not such rights ought to be granted is an entirely different discussion
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Title
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The Name Is Not the Scarcity.
http://www.braggcreekca.com/camp2011.shtml
They can change the name of the camp twice a week, if they have to, but that will not affect anything important.
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Another POV
Fine if you don't believe in property - up to you ...I assume you have the courage of your convictions not to lock your doors and publish your bank account details online.
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Although in a strange twisted way, if mythological traditions once upon a time were maintained by priests or organized classes of society in some way (and at times protected very fiercely) then this kind of thing feels a little bit like ... the mythology of the God of money? Whatever that might be. I don't know because it's all very strange.
Added to the confusion is the fact that copyright law is not consistent across international borders - so in particular, one poster noted fanfics being ok .... mmmaybe .... but mmaybe not. I don't feel clear on this myself. At one time their ubiquitous existence and the laws of my own region made me think they were fine but ... what if I moved or what if the laws (or their interpretation) changed? This is all in spite of the power the work has as a mythology - but these copyright laws force it to be treated otherwise. Or perhaps they force it to be treated as a mythology as mythology was once treated (in a more guarded, controlled and sanctified? sense complete with a priesthood that keeps it - I haven't decided yet on this, clearly).
In the end it all simplifies when it comes to the realm of respect and reasonable people where a simple written request to desist suffices with no need for further action or prosecution. I found this to be very refreshing, actually. No one was apparently going for blood here and people acted like reasonable adults. Nice - let's hope that continues.
Maybe they were going for money or maybe Christopher really feels some burden to act as some kind of priestly keeper of the true ways of Tolkien.
The one thing that does stand out about this Rivendell compared to any other is its religious orientation. That might be how it got "picked". I can't think of what else it could be, but then I don't know the situation.
As for creativity. We all have our influences and inspirations - including Tolkien. Imagine if he had felt the need to scrupulously strip all artifacts or influences from prior mythologies from his own works and totally generate everything from scratch as if in some kind of vacuum.
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