Polychron, Tolkien, and Amazon (Oh, My!) — The Wayward Lawyer

Here’s an interesting lawsuit or two involving a copyright dispute. One that involves “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy.

Tolkien Estate Wins Court Order to Destroy Fan’s ‘Lord of the Rings’ Sequel.

The subhead to this article goes on to describe it in a summary very much like something generated by ChatGPT.

Ruling that the fan’s unauthorized book violated copyright protections, a judge barred him from distributing it and ordered him to destroy all electronic and physical copies of it.

Let’s take a quick look at the situation.

It was supposed to be what a fan described as a “loving homage” to his hero, the author J.R.R. Tolkien, and to “The Lord of the Rings,” which he called “one of the most defining experiences of his life.”

A judge in California had another view.

The fan, Demetrious Polychron of Santa Monica, Calif., violated copyright protections this year when he wrote and published a sequel to the epic “Rings” series, U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson of the Central District of California ruled last week.

And who better to write an homage to LOTR than someone with a name that could pass for a Tolkien character?