In a peculiar legal skirmish, the Tolkien estate and retail giant Amazon emerged victorious in a recent court case concerning the rights to The Lord of the Rings franchise. The dispute arose when author Demetrious Polychron, following the release of his unauthorized book titled “The Fellowship of the King,” took legal action against the entities responsible for officially extending J.R.R. Tolkien’s literary legacy. The legal tussle came to an end in August, as a California judge dismissed the case with prejudice.
In an ironic twist, Polychron had embarked on creating a new series inspired by Tolkien’s iconic work, envisioning a planned seven-part saga without seeking approval from the Tolkien estate. His legal pursuit against Amazon and the estate commenced with the debut of “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.” In the initial filing, Polychron alleged that the Prime Video show had drawn inspiration from his sequel, thereby infringing on the copyright of his literary creation.
However, the judge overseeing the case deemed Polychron’s claim as “unreasonable,” particularly for seeking copyright protection for derivative works based on characters from The Lord of the Rings. The judge went further to label the claim as “frivolous from the beginning.” As a consequence of the unsuccessful legal action, Polychron now finds himself obligated to pay $134,637 in attorney’s fees to both the Tolkien estate and Amazon.
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