One Does Not Simply Create Fan Projects Without Interference From the Tolkien Estate
(Full Article on Fanbyte.com)
Artists are hurting from a legal attempt to squash out all fan-created works.
In 2012, a small pub called “The Hobbit” in the United Kingdom received a cease and desist letter from the Tolkien Estate for copyright infringement. Shortly after, the same thing happened to a solo hobbyist developer who built an app for personal use inspired by The Lord of the Rings. Following legal strife, the pub was allowed to keep its name by paying a licensing fee, but the developer was forced to take his app down at the risk of going toe-to-toe in a legal battle with a colossal corporation.
These are just a few ramifications of the recently revised rules in an FAQ posted on the Tolkien Estate’s official website. This directive is meant to dissuade and stamp out all instances of incorporating the wonderful stories of Middle-earth into fan projects, stripping away fans’ creative freedom to build within that universe[…]
