Demetrius Polychron loves "The Lord of the Rings". More precisely, he really, really loves The Lord of the Rings. He defines the creator of the series, J. R. R. Tolkien, as his hero. He loves the famous fantasy trilogy so much that he wrote a sequel to it – which got him in serious trouble. We used Forefront to tell this very unimaginative story.
It all started in 2017, when he sent Tolkien's grandson Simon a signed copy of a book he had written, The Lord of the Rings: The King's Fellowship, with a letter explaining that he felt compelled to continue Tolkien's world, and that he followed Tolkien's writing spirit as much as possible and was planning a series of seven books based on Tolkien's world. Despite the act of flattery, the company managing Tolkien's estate refused his requests to license the brand, stating that it had an explicit policy against allowing other writers to write "official" sequels to the trilogy.
Claim that the series copies from copying. Trailer for The Rings of Power
Polychron didn't let that stop him, and this year he published his book and began selling it on Amazon and other bookstores. Tolkien's heirs sent him a letter instructing him to stop selling the book, but received no reply. Not only that—last summer he sued Tolkien's estate and Amazon. His claim: The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, which premiered on Amazon Prime Video, infringes his copyright. He demanded they pay him $250 million. In court, he claimed that one of the episodes of the Amazon series was based on the characters and plot lines from his book.
Polychron's lawsuit was dismissed back in August after a judge found that he himself had infringed copyright in publishing the book – but that was not the end. In June, Tolkien's estate sued Polychron, alleging that he copied characters, features, poems, and plot elements from Tolkien's works. Judge Steven Wilson said Polychron had committed "deliberate and flagrant" copyright infringement and issued an order prohibiting the continued sale of books and the destruction of all copies already sold.
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