The wealthy business conglomerate has won the day. According to Deadline, a California court has thrown out a lawsuit for $250 million against Amazon and the Tolkien Estate over whether or not The Rings of Power infringed the copyright of some fan fiction by a guy named Demetrious Polychron.
Polychron sued the two companies this year over his 2017 novel The Fellowship of the King, which he claimed Amazon took parts of to make its hit series. The book was evidently a “pitch-perfect” sequel to J.R.R. Tolkien’s beloved fantasy franchise, and despite The Rings of Power being a prequel, Polychorn believed the creators of the series stole from him. The judge did not agree at all. He threw out both lawsuits and ordered Polychron to pay $134,000 to cover Amazon and the Tolkien Estate’s legal fees.
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That’s not all, however. The judge also came down hard on Polychron’s book, granting a permanent injunction that prohibits the author from distributing any copies of The Fellowship of the King in any way whatsoever. Not only that, he can’t write any of the planned sequels and must destroy any copies of the book (digital or print) that he may have and then file a statement to the court that he has done so under penalty of perjury.
Of the case, a representative for the Tolkien Estate said, “This is an important success for the Tolkien Estate, which will not permit unauthorized authors and publishers to monetize JRR Tolkien’s much-loved works in this way.”
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power Season 1 is available to stream on Prime Video now. A second season of the immensely expensive hit show is currently in production at the streaming service.
