LORD OF THE RINGS Fan Fiction Author is Suing Amazon Studios Over THE RINGS OF POWER

In today's edition of "lawsuits that are as likely to succeed as Frodo making it to Mordor without Sam," a Lord of the Rings fan-fiction author is taking on Amazon Studios over their smash-hit series, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.

The plaintiff, Demetrious Polychron, has filed a lawsuit against Amazon head honcho Jeff Bezos, Jennifer Salke (the head of Amazon Studios), Simon Tolkien (grandson of JRR Tolkien himself), and the showrunners for The Rings of Power, Patrick McKay and John D Payne. And that's not all… even The Tolkien Estate has been dragged into this legal maelstrom.

According to the court documents filed in the US District Court for the Central District of California, Polychron alleges that Amazon's new TV series, which is based on Tolkien's extensive universe and the appendices he wrote, ripped off his own published novel, which is, in turn, derived from Tolkien's work.

Polychron's book, titled The Fellowship of the King, is a follow-up to The Lord of the Rings that also delves into the story of the Second Age and the history of The Rings of Power. The author claims to have registered the book with the US Copyright Office back in 2017 and even attempted to reach out to The Tolkien Estate for collaboration to no avail.

Undeterred, Polychron ended up hand-delivering a copy of his manuscript, but still received no response. In a move that was either incredibly bold or incredibly naive, the author then sent a letter asking for his manuscript back and declared his intention to publish it anyway (along with sequels). He published the novel on September 30, 2022, which also happened to be the same day that the fifth episode of The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power premiered on Prime Video.

Now, Polychron is claiming that the show infringes on his copyright, and has even provided tables highlighting moments in his book that he believes are similar to moments in the TV show. However, many of these similarities just serve to underscore how closely the fan-fiction work hews to Tolkien's original works. The book even includes a dedication to Tolkien and his son before immediately using characters created by the legendary author.

This lawsuit is about as likely to succeed as Legolas missing his mark. Amazon secured the rights to The Lord of the Rings story through extensive collaboration with The Tolkien Estate, and this legal wrangling seems more like a publicity stunt than a genuine legal challenge.

One entity that may take an interest in this lawsuit is Embracer Group, the investment firm that purchased the rights to The Lord of the Rings outright and might not take kindly to unauthorized works being published. But for now, let's just sit back, grab a pint of ale, and watch this legal drama play out.

I think this whole thing is hilarious that a fan-fiction writer is suing the people who actually own the rights to the stories that he’s building his fan-fiction off of. People are nuts.

Source: PC Gamer