Tolkien Estate 'Settles' Dispute Over Historical Fiction Book With JRR Tolkien As A Character
from the too-bad dept
In one of the many, many overreaches by the Tokien Estate, it threatened author Stephen Hillard, who has written a bit of historical fiction combined with literary criticism, called Mirkwood, which uses a fictionalized JRR Tolkien as a character. The Tolkien Estate sent a cease-and-desiste, and Hillard smartly sued for declaratory judgment. Apparently the two sides have worked out their differences and have settled the lawsuit, which will allow the book to be published. However, Hillard does have to make a few small changes:According to the settlement, the book will now be released with a modified reference to Tolkien on the cover and will also include the disclaimer, "This is a work of fiction which is neither endorsed nor connected with The JRR Tolkien Estate or its publisher."I certainly understand why a settlement would be reached, but really it's too bad that any changes were made. Hillard had a strong case, and the estate had little or no case. Yet, now that it was able to pressure the author into making some changes (even if they were small), it emboldens the estate to continue its silly and counterproductive campaign.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: historical fiction, tolkien
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
I don't think the estate needs to be emboldened to continue its campaign. They seem to take to it like a Hobbit takes to a hole in the ground.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Seems like a lot of work...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Don't have Talent? Litigate.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Actually, it's the reverse: what everyone seems to be forgetting is that apart from using Tolkien as a character, Hillard was using his characters, settings and names too. Hell, the very name of the book is Mirkwood. People just latched onto the idea of the Tolkien estate trying to enforce copyright on a historical figure and conveniently forget the fact that Hillard's writing fanfiction and getting money for it despite Tolkien not being in the public domain. People also seem to forget that there have been a number of books featuring Tolkien as a character who *weren't* sued by the Tolkien estate, and rather than assume that Hillard was doing something a little more than just that, they prefer to imagine Hillard as a feisty creative man battling the evil forces of the Tolkien Estate living off the fat of Middle-earth.
I love the stories of little creative types going against big bad corporations, but in this case, Hillard most certainly was infringing on the Tolkien Estate's copyright, and the latter were well within their rights to complain.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
So what if the book is called Mirkwood? There's no copyright on the word.
Also, the idea you have that this "fanfiction" should not make money is something I don't agree with. What is culture but shared ideas? What Hillard did here was take a popular piece of culture and build from it. Just like Tolkien used Norse legends when he first wrote the Hobbit (the dragon Smaug was not his creation, just the name, but certainly not the idea of a dragon resting on a pile of treasure and instantly being aware if a single piece is stolen). By your standards, what Tolkien himself wrote was fanfiction based on Norse legends and thus, he shouldn't have published it.
Lastly, copyright on a historical figure? That doesn't even make sense. Copyright is supposed to be for the progress of Arts and Sciences. Where does being a famous figure come into play? So only the Tolkien Estate can write articles/books/etc that have the Tolkien character?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
WRONG!
It isn't called "similar-right", it's called copyright. The uterus turds which currently make up the Tolkien estate are greedy little rats with no ability to earn their own income seeking to live in perpetuity off of another's efforts.
Copyright protects expressions, NOT IDEAS.
Apologies in advance: I haven't commented in a while and I'm in a terrible mood.
You, and everyone who thinks like you, should be sent to some type of re-education camp to have the stupid beaten out of you. People can't own ideas, it doesn't work that way in theory or in practice. Virtually everything you have touched, looked at, eaten, or heard today was created, enhanced, or modified by human beings using their collective knowledge.
You have never read a book that wasn't inspired by other books. You have never eaten a meal that wasn't developed based on centuries of research. You have never heard a song that wasn't influenced by the past and present.
The attitude displayed by you, and others like you, is one of ingratitude. You are clinically incapable of realizing your dependence upon other human beings. Ideas and the ability to share those ideas are what separates human beings from other animals. Anyone who believes that ideas can be owned and shouldn't be shared are no better than animals and should be treated as such.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Research in Fiction
Or if perhaps someone out their had an unofficial trademark or copyright over intellectual property rights, that covered any historical context I was portraying. I eventually found out that a group had attempted to out and out trademark one historical incident I was writing about, and separately, that many, many individuals had attempted at one time or another to trademark or copyright another well-known piece of history, I was writing about. Fortunately, the efforts were always frowned upon by Judges, unanimously.
But I "never" even considered portraying a person like Tolkien. Mainly because, just like Edgar Rice Burroughs, his very name has been copyrighted by his estate. And that will in fact last for many years to come. And his estate, much like that of Edgar Rice Burroughs, are known for being litigious.
Not to bust the guys chops, but the writer should have checked on that first. Had he simply Google'd "J. R. R. Tolkien - Estate," he would've backed, way, way off. None of us like having our creativity infringed upon, but you have to learn to stay out of trouble.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]