Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes...

[The Saucepan Man]

Originally Posted by davem

Ok, what, exactly, is this 'LotR' which has been copyrighted? Is it the actual text - the words themselves, or is it some kind of Platonic 'ideal' LotR, a 'story'?

Copyright does not protect ideas. Rather it protects the form in which ideas are expressed. So, the law affords no protection to the story of LotR, but rather the manner in which it is expressed in some permament form.

So, if Tolkien had told the story to another person and that person had then published a novel based on the story related to him, copyright in the story would belong to the author and not Tolkien. Similarly, if an author chooses to use the storyline presented in LotR to write their own story, they will have a separate copyright in that story provided that is is sufficiently different to constitute an original work (*cough*TerryBrookes*cough*).

As for a work which comprises additions to, or alterations of, an existing text, it will, provided that the changes are not merely trivial but are sufficiently material to make the totality of the work original, attract separate copyright protection in its own right. Personally, I don't believe that the alterations that have been made to produce the 50th Anniversary Edition, or at least those discussed in this thread, are sufficient to give rise to any rights independent of the original work.

Originally Posted by Mithalwen

Oh Saucepanadan.. I think you will have to class this as pro-bono

Pro bono? What a strange concept that is!

Originally Posted by Mithalwen

... and you weren't actually instructed

Au contraire, I would refer my learned friend to the following:

Originally Posted by davem

... maybe we have more legal eagles floating around, so maybe someone could clear this up?

I regard that as a clear instruction. My fee will therefore be rendered for davem's account.