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In April, Demetrius Polychron, the author of the 2017 book with the interesting title “The Fellowship of the King” (The Fellowship of the King) based on the novel “The Lord of the Rings” sued Amazom and the Tolkien Estate: allegedly, the “Rings of Power” series used his ideas. Predictably, he lost and must pay $134,000 in legal fees.
Moreover, the counterclaim deprived Demetrius of the right to publish his fanfic and works based on it. We wrote about the details of this story earlier, and now it has come to the end.
Lord of the Rings Fanfiction Author Sues Amazon and Tolkien’s Descendants for $250 Million
Polychron’s claim was rejected. The judge made the opposite decision: Polychrona’s book violates the copyright of the creators of the Amazon series. The Tolkien Estate filed its own lawsuit against Polychrono in an attempt to stop further distribution of his book, resulting in a permanent injunction against the publication of The King’s Brotherhood and its author’s planned six sequels. The book was sold, the author had income from it, which he has now lost. The judge in the case also called Polychrono’s lawsuit frivolous and without merit and ordered him to pay the Tolkien Estate and Amazon $134,000 in legal fees.
Despite the obvious absurdity and impudence, such lawsuits can significantly complicate the situation of lesser-known authors with additional costs and litigation. If successful, the precedent of Demetrius Polychronus would have bad consequences for them. But the opposite happened – there will be fewer willing to deal with such lawsuits.
Only 37% of viewers watched the first episode of The Lord of the Rings, the most expensive series in history.
Source: PC Gamer, BBC
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