Image: Prime Video
It's baffling that anyone has actually tried to legitimize fanfiction when the estate of The Lord of the Rings author is still actively pushing forward adaptations of JRR Tolkien's groundbreaking work.
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Amazon and the Tolkien estate were sued by author Demetrious Polychron, who, after the publication of his book entitled “The King's Companions” (his LOTR sequel), decided to pursue the team that is officially capable of ” The Lord of the Rings franchise continues. Variety reports that the case was dismissed with prejudice by a California judge in August.
The funny thing is that without the permission of the Tolkien estate, the author decided to write a whole new series inspired by Tolkien's work, which was a planned seven-part series. With the release of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Polychron sued both Amazon and the Tolkien estate. In that original filing, he claimed that the Prime Video show grew out of his sequel and infringed the copyright on his work. Yes, really.
The judge presiding over the case called Polychron's claim “meritless” as he sought to obtain copyright protection for his works based on “Lord of the Rings” characters, and “frivolous from the start.” Polychron must now pay $134,637 in legal fees to the Tolkien estate and Amazon.
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