When it comes to intellectual properties, none may have a more complicated history than those of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings trilogy and other works set in Middle-Earth. The latest wrinkle came in the form of a legal battle in California involving the Tolkien Estate and Amazon against an author claiming he was working on a “sequel series” to the Lord of the Rings trilogy, though this didn't seem to end well for the author.

It was reported on Monday a California state judge dismissed the copyright lawsuit by Demetrious Polychron, the author of this “sequel series,” in August 2023 “with prejudice,” according to Variety. A countersuit was filed shortly by the Tolkien Estate accusing Polychron of infringing on the estate's copyright, with a U.S. district judge ruling in favor of the estate and ordered the author to destroy any finished copies of his sequel series.

The Lord of the Rings, The Rings of Power, Entertainment

Polychron published the first book, “Fellowship of the King,” in April 2023 and said it would be the first in a seven-part series taking place after the events of the Lord of the Ring. The author was reportedly working on the first sequel, “The Two Trees,” when the ruling came down to destroy all physical and digital copies of his works.

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Polychron will also need to pay Amazon and the Tolkien Estate's lawyer fees totaling to $134,637.

“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,” lawyer Steven Maier said in a statement. “This case involved a serious infringement of ‘The Lord of the Rings’ copyright, undertaken on a commercial basis, and the Estate hopes that the award of a permanent injunction and attorneys’ fees will be sufficient to dissuade others who may have similar intentions.”

As of 2023, the Tolkien Estate owned the copyright for TV adaptations of the Lord of the Rings consisting of eight episodes or more, along with the general rights for Tolkien's other Middle-Earth works. However, the principle rights for The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Hobbit came under the ownership of Swedish gaming company Embracer after the company bought Middle-Earth Enterprises in August 2022.