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Domain: tolkiensociety.org

Stories and comments across the archive that link to tolkiensociety.org.

Comments · 10

  1. Re:short story: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0 · on A Composer's-Eye View of the Copyright Wars

    There's an irony here about J. R. R. Tolkein, which is kind of funny:

    "Those who approve of courtesy (at least) to living authors will purchase it and no other" --- J. R. R. Tolkein, Ballantine Edition, Lord of the Rings

    Tolkein's books fell into the public domain in the United States because of the copyright law at the time. It's important to understand about copyright, it has never had anything to do with morality... it's just business.

      He depended on pushing a boycott to get his fans to stop buying the legally published but unauthorized versions of the texts. Eventually, he revised them, and properly got his copyright in the United States on the new editions. (The Lord of the Rings: The Tale of a Text)

    Myself? I have little patience for multimillionaires lecturing me on morality when many people are out of work and homelessness is on the rise. (No, I don't think it is right to download copyrighted works without paying for them, but as a crime I consider it somewhere beneath littering and jaywalking.)

    Why don't they Go Galt and deprive us all of their delicate genius then? I'm sure no new content creators would rise to take their places, of course.

    Frankly I think they (and most other multimillionaires and billionaires, given the latest World Government push for Austerity for people in the lower tax brackets) should be thankful we aren't hanging them from the nearest lampposts. (I'll never understand why people think we should respect greedy multimillionaires opinions more than those of honest people. They're the reason why your standard of living has been falling for the last few decades, people!)

    I suspect that the Ace editions of the Lord of the Rings are still in the public domain, but it has never been tested in court.

  2. Re:Damn leeches by e9th · · Score: 3, Interesting · on LoTR Lawsuit Threatens Hobbit Production

    I'd forgotten about that. The interesting story is here.

  3. Re:Huh?!?! by Mr.+Slippery · · Score: 5, Informative · on MGM to Produce "The Hobbit"
    There were only 3 LoTR books. Not 6.

    LoTR is actually one novel of six books published in three volumes.

  4. Re:Disgusting by DG · · Score: 2, Funny · on Hitchhiker's Movie is Bad, says Adams Biographer
    What, you mean Like This?

    Featuring such hit songs as
    • "Don't Cry For Me Minas Tirith" and

    • "Osgelliath, OK!" and

    • "Ding Dong the Ring is Dead" and

    • "Climb Every Mount Doom" and

    • "Whose Afraid of the Big Bad Ringwraith?"



    Be very, very afraid.



    DG



  5. I HAVE THE SOLUTION by DarkMantle · · Score: 1 · on Language Tempest At Orkut


    Let's all speak Elvish

  6. Re:Good for NZers by ghostprovidence · · Score: 1 · on LotR RotK Premiere Today In New Zealand

    ... i hear its loosely based on some story some guy wrote ... not that anybody's read them.

  7. Re:Why don't they... by catsidhe · · Score: 2 · on Disney Wins, Eldred (and everyone else) Loses
    They can write their own books if they want.
    ... Which is, of course, exactly what Christopher Tolkien has been doing.

    (The Silmarillion was a huge collection of half-finished manuscripts dating over sixty years when J.R.R. passed to the West. While the stories and writing are purely his (and the basis and foudation of the LotR), it took Christopher a lot of work to edit it into something publishable. Then there is the History of Middle Earth...)

    Christopher Tolkien is not just sitting back and taking the checks. He takes his responsibilities as J.R.R's Literary Executor seriously, and works for it. See, for example, here.

    Sure, some might say his writings are all derivitive of the works of one person, but no more so than many other academics.
  8. Re:Cashing in... by Rogerborg · · Score: 2 · on Tolkien and the Beowulf Saga

    According to the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, copyright duration for literary works in the UK expires at the end of the period of 50 years from the end of the calendar year in which the author dies, and J. R. R. Tolkien died in 1973.

  9. Re:I only hope..... by miu · · Score: 1 · on Massive Two Towers Battle
    To quote Tolken. "Its ELVEN you fool, not elfish."

    I know you were joking and I was quoting.

    http://www.tolkiensociety.org/faq01.html#elvish

    http://www.elvish.org/

    Elvish seems to be fairly acceptable. It's even in the jargon file somewhere. Now that's canon!

  10. Consult Tolkien's Academic Works by ancarett · · Score: 1 · on Tolkien's sources: Icelandic Sagas and Beowulf

    Professor Tolkien made a brilliant early reputation as a scholar of Early and Middle English. Many English courses assign his Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and The Pearl. His most significant critical essays are collected in the volume: The Monsters and the Critics, including his discussion of Beowulf.

    For those of you who consider academic texts painful to read, give Tolkien's scholarly work a go. You'll be surprised by how readable they really are!