Quote:
Originally Posted by Mnemosyne
So, does that mean I can publish my fan fiction in a for-profit venue? I mean, given what I've heard of this novel (and now that it's squeaked out clean, I should probably read it) it starts with the premise that Middle-earth, its races, and its history are all real, but doesn't use any of Tolkien's actual characters, except for the fictional Tolkien who translated the whole... I'll have to ditch a couple of side characters and side scenes, but otherwise I'm only stealing the races and the setting.
Or do I have to insert myself discovering the material evidence for the stories I've already written to make it squeak by the Estate?
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I think– though I haven't read the book in question, so I'm not sure – that actually setting something in Middle-earth itself would be going a bit further than Stephen Hilliard did. Anyway, as this case never went to court we don't know who would've won– so I hardly think it sets a precedent.
On that note,
Davem, it's not clear to me Hilliard "called the Estates's bluff" or "stood up to them" at all. Surely if that had been so, either they'd have gone on to sue each other as threatened, or the Estate would have backed off altogether? After all, if Hilliard and his publishers had
wanted to put these disclaimers on the book, wouldn't they have done so to begin with?