[Mithadan]

As I understand it, and I may be incorrect on the details, JRRT ran into financial problems in the 1960s due to income tax and medical liabilities. He sold the "movie rights" to The Hobbit and LoTR to a US company now known as Tolkien Enterprises (they have or had a website) for a sum of money which would now be considered small, but at that time was relatively sizeable (I have heard the number was around $15,000 US but I've also heard larger figures). I have heard rumors on both sides of the royalties issue, i.e. that the Estate does or does not receive royalties resulting from Tolkien Enterprises' marketing and use.

Works of art and printed text (which include lyrics and, now, computer code) can be copyrighted under US law. Names are subject to trademark. The term "movie rights" means that Tolkien Enterprise received a license to utilize the texts in connection with motion picture and stage productions. I also understand that the license included the marketing rights to all names contained in the books. So figurines, artwork. playing cards, games related to The Hobbit and LoTR are licensed by Tolkien Enterprises (or their licensee, New Line), not by the Tolkien Estate. Tolkien Enterprises also claims to possess rights, either via US trademark or copyright (statutory or common law), over the use of names appearing in the Hobbit and LoTR.

The Estate retained rights to the texts themselves. The Silmarillion was not included in the "movie rights", so all rumors that there will be a Silmarillion or Beren and Luthien movie are false (unless the Estate and Christopher Tolkien license such a production). So all publications of LoTR and The Hobbit (unless they are illegal knockoffs) are authorized by the Estate. Toys, cards and movies are controlled by Tolkien Enterprises. Thinking about this, I wonder which authorized the publication of the Hobbit comic books back in the 1980s.

A matter of concern could be that since Tolkien Enterprises possesses the marketing rights, they could in theory create derivative works for motion picture purposes. In other words, new stories based upon LoTR or the Hobbit. This would depend on the nature and wording of the license which could prohibit such productions. I seem to recall that a version of the Aragorn-Arwen love story was under consideration at some point.