31 Aug, 2016
(edited)Edited by Trotter on 2016-8-31 7:42:50 AM UTC
2016-8-31 7:20:17 AM UTC
31 Aug, 2016
2016-8-31 9:15:55 AM UTC
Australian.
I've got one of their passports, and I've lived a life of dishonest chicanery ever since.
31 Aug, 2016
2016-8-31 12:37:47 PM UTC
That has to be my favorite line of defense I have heard.
I am an idiot...
Brilliant
31 Aug, 2016
2016-8-31 5:23:58 PM UTC
He expected the Estate to bring the original One Ring into court so it could be compared with his rings....
Truly a face-palm moment.
![](https://www.tolkienguide.com/uploads/smil3dbd4d4e4c4f2.gif)
1 Sep, 2016
2016-9-1 4:00:20 PM UTC
Didn't watch the video, but after searching "Tolkien" on etsy.com all I can say is there is enough work there to keep the estates lawyers working into the next millennia.
1 Sep, 2016
2016-9-1 8:16:55 PM UTC
Trotter wrote:
I'd watch the video, it is very funny, he has no clue ![](https://www.tolkienguide.com/uploads/smil3dbd4d4e4c4f2.gif)
They will not be working into the next millennia, the Tolkien Estate's copyright on items that are J.R.R. Tolkien copyrighted, does not last for ever, only eight years left in some parts of the world.
Canada and New Zealand are examples where due to current copyright laws, anything written by J.R.R. Tolkien would be public domain on the 1st January 2024, as it would 50 years after his death, i.e. he could sell the rings with no license payment after this date in Canada or New Zealand.
The reason that it is not 2023 is that it is the end of the year after the 50th Anniversary.
I think this is why they are stepping up the enforcement, which they are allowed to do, and rightly so as they own the copyright, but also they have a limited time left.
New Zealand is a signatory to the TPP (and therefore has thrown its citizens under the bus). Under TPP, copyright will be extended substantially, and realistically, works will probably never go into the public domain (some works are going to come back out of the public domain, which is interesting).