Lord of the Clear-ance?Did ‘Lord of the Dance’ have to change theirs too?
Good one! It took me a minute or two to get it though!I think they're being a bit precious.
Bilbo RecyclingsI hope they used Bilbo BAGgins
might affect damages, not a decision on infringement. this isnt so much about the name, its the logo and phrase which is fairly clear, if tounge in cheek, reference to the franchise.While not the legal standpoint, for me it comes down to 'Is the copyright owner losing any money ?' due to the infringement - in this case the answer is no so no case to answer.
The difficulty is that if they don't enforce it on the little guys, it can become a lot more difficult to enforce against big players. Essentially the big players can use lack of enforcement as evidence that the trademark isn't being defended and therefore a right to use it. Hence these, on the surface, ludicrous enforcement stories.In fairness to the Tolkien Estate, when you see the full advert it's pretty clear that they're using Lord of the Rings. With a tagline of "one ring to remove it all".
I do think it's a bit much for these huge organisations to enforce this with tiny companies though. It's not exactly impacting the Lord of the Rings enterprise in any way.
...NSC: Lords Of The Binfest
Yep, it sounded a bit pathetic at first, but once you see the website, they clearly have a point.If it was just the name that would be one thing, but the whole logo is a copy.
They got paid a lot for that.
It’s their property to do what they like with. They get to pick and choose what to do with the licensing, it’s for nobody to decide except the owner of the IP.Thus proving that they don't care a jot about the IP, only about the money.