Quote:
Originally Posted by Inziladun
I cannot credit the Estate with perfect judgement 100% of the time, but at least I think their intentions are on the pure side. That's more than one can say for a lot of other trademark holders who threaten litigation.
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OK - but.
First, this looks petty ('Taking candy from a baby' springs to mind) - & its exactly this kind of thing that makes people believe the stories about the Estate threatening legal action against people selling badges which mention 'Tolkien'. Second, as I pointed out, its a bit disingenuous to state that the Estate is rarely involved in court action, because its clearly not backwards at coming forwards when it comes to threatening legal action - & it always seems to be individuals who are a lot less wealthy & therefore unable to go to court against the Estate who get threatened.
The main issue for me here is the group on the receiving end of this letter - a children's camp. Now, it would seem to me that something like this would be likely to lead kids to discover & come to love Tolkien's world - & that this kind of action would be likely to engender the opposite feeling. Tolkien, we know, loved children (though one gets the feeling that CT wishes his father had written his works in a mix of Elvish & Anglo-Saxon, where it could be the preserve of academics). This is a camp where children would play at being Hobbits, Elves & Dwarves with their friends. I think Tolkien would have thought it a wonderful thing, but it looks like his family would rather protect their 'imaginary property' than let the children play. I have to say that the current behaviour of the Estate is souring Tolkien's creation for me.
I think anyone who has read my posts on this forum over the years will know how much Tolkien's work means to me, & how much time I've 'spent' in Middle-earth. I have shelves ful of books by & about Tolkien. I met my partner through this forum & our little boy is only here because of our shared love of Tolkien - we wouldn't have met otherwise. If anyone thinks I'm just on some petty minded vendetta against the Tolkien Estate - sorry, you're wrong. I do think we all owe a debt to Christopher Tolkien, but I also think that the recent behaviour of the Estate & its lawyers is unpleasant.
The kind of thing that this camp was doing was a perfect counterbalance to the simplistic movies & increasingly violent & dumb video games that Middle-earth is becoming in the popular imagination.