Middle Earth Ranger Forum

So apparently a guy in Poland is trying to get funds to build a Shire village as a resort.

He and some others put together a ten minute fan film of sorts, kind of an ad for it. Whatever else, it looks like it was fun to make.

Anyone in this group aspire to do some fan films?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cos_iYq ... e=youtu.be

Saw this on the Facebook page! Looks like they had a lot of fun making it. I've wanted to try my hand at a ranger fan film for ages now, but I've just never been able to get my act together enough to make it happen. I've always thought it would be cool to model it slightly after the Black Angel short that was originally attached to the Empire Strikes Back, in 1980. The somber tones, the general lack of dialogue, and the fantasy setting have captivated me for quite some time, and I think doing a Middle-Earth film with a similar aesthetic would be really fun.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5L8pHKP-vv4

I mentioned on FB that they're going to need to distance themselves from any trademarked words like 'Shire' and 'Middle-earth,' and a woman from the project replied that 'their producer took care of all of that,' but frankly, I'm dubious. You would have to shell about big bucks to both the Tolkien Estate and Saul Zaentz' heir to get a license for a 'Shire resort.' Having lived in Eastern Europe, I think they're just naive about the aggressive nature of Western lawyers.

As to a fan film- for my Dragons Wood Inn project, I got a nice little video camera, so I can start filming the progress instead of just posting photos. I think it would be good enough for a fan film. Once I get the Inn ready, I've got about a dozen acres of wooded hills to play on, maybe you should start blcoking out your film idea....

Hunh! fun!
Yeah... I'd expect the lawyers would get him if it was labeled formerly, but you never know. I've seen housing developments still named "Rivendell" or "Lothlorien" so presumably at least at one time the estate turned a blind eye. I rather doubt that's still the case though.

Straelebora - AWESOME! Can't wait to see!

edit - Manv- I'd never heard of that short. Thank you for the link!
I watched it last night - really reminded me of the old "Robin of Sherwood" show.

Near where I live currently is the town of Manhattan, Kansas and there, tucked away up a hill is a road called Dimrill Stair. Not kidding. I saw that and laughed and laughed as a younger man, and my parents couldn't understand why. They had some friends that lived up that way we would go visit. They still do not understand why the name of the street is so hilarious to me.

Elleth wrote:Hunh! fun!
Yeah... I'd expect the lawyers would get him if it was labeled formerly, but you never know. I've seen housing developments still named "Rivendell" or "Lothlorien" so presumably at least at one time the estate turned a blind eye. I rather doubt that's still the case though.

Straelebora - AWESOME! Can't wait to see!

edit - Manv- I'd never heard of that short. Thank you for the link!
I watched it last night - really reminded me of the old "Robin of Sherwood" show.

i think when developers name streets, etc. , after Tolkien's writings, it might fall somewhere under 'fair use,' in part because no one is going to mistake a neighborhood of suburban tract housing (like a neighborhood near Ft. Meade, MD) for the 'real' Middle-earth. But when folks want to make money off of the trademarked properties, such as in this case, sooner or later, the 'cease and desist' letter is going to arrive. Just look at the way they've gone after pubs, etc. I even knew a woman who sold ceramic tiles online. She produced a few dozen per year. Some of her tiles had things like images out of 'the Silmarillion.' Saul Zaentz' lawyers found her and told her they'd sue for hundreds of thousands of dollars if she didn't stop immediately.

Elleth wrote: Straelebora - AWESOME! Can't wait to see!

Do you have a Facebook account? I've posted a ton of photos over the last few weeks- have been making great progress on getting the Inn in shape.

Just search "Dragons Wood Inn" on FB.

I haven't posted photos here because you have to resize everything to be able to post.

I have a website for the Inn and I really need to get it updated and post the photos there, too.

Straelbora wrote:I mentioned on FB that they're going to need to distance themselves from any trademarked words like 'Shire' and 'Middle-earth,' and a woman from the project replied that 'their producer took care of all of that,' but frankly, I'm dubious. You would have to shell about big bucks to both the Tolkien Estate and Saul Zaentz' heir to get a license for a 'Shire resort.' Having lived in Eastern Europe, I think they're just naive about the aggressive nature of Western lawyers.

As to a fan film- for my Dragons Wood Inn project, I got a nice little video camera, so I can start filming the progress instead of just posting photos. I think it would be good enough for a fan film. Once I get the Inn ready, I've got about a dozen acres of wooded hills to play on, maybe you should start blcoking out your film idea....

Some LOTR words are copyrigyhted and some can't be, since they are already regular words;
http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Middle-e ... Copyrights
"Shire" is a common noun in English. "The Shire" is a different matter.

Kortoso wrote: Some LOTR words are copyrigyhted and some can't be, since they are already regular words;
http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Middle-e ... Copyrights
"Shire" is a common noun in English. "The Shire" is a different matter.

However, taking a page out of the evil Disney corporation's book, many are trademarked, which lasts for perpetuity.

The deal with trademark is that if you use a word like "Shire" and it's obviously related to a political subdivision of the UK or Australia,
it's fair use. But if you are doing something that can be confused with the use by the trademark owner (especially if for profit), such as having a resort full of Hobbit-houses and calling it 'the Shire Resort,' you're going to violate the trademark.

//I'm a lawyer IRL; immigration, but had a copy right and trade mark course with a professor who literally wrote the textbook//