Readers here shouldn’t need to be reminded that the Tolkien Estate, through its company Middle-Earth Enterprises, is known to be extremely aggressive with its enforcement of intellectual prop…
I agree that the Funko Pop example cheapens their property. Doesn’t seem that they care.
And of course it’s not about just one wing truck. Estates like these are not innovating and are not holding air shows or wing competitions. And unless they’re stealing trade secrets of making wing sauces or the intricacies of hosting aerial events, I say let the estate compete in those areas or even choose to sponsor these already established entities who’ve entered the market before the estate did anything with their IP.
But that’s my point. If Tolkien’s great grandchildren want to sell hot wing sauce some day, they shouldn’t have to fight some guy with a food truck because “he thought of it first.” Branding is the opposite of a trade secret, and there’s no free market solution to competition for a name. Trademarks must be defended in court, or you lose them.
That’s why I said it would be a better argument if it were “Lord of Wings” because it conveys almost exactly the same sentiment that the owner is claiming to want to convey, and removing the “the” from the title changes the cadence and format of the title, further separating it from existing IP.
I agree that the Funko Pop example cheapens their property. Doesn’t seem that they care.
And of course it’s not about just one wing truck. Estates like these are not innovating and are not holding air shows or wing competitions. And unless they’re stealing trade secrets of making wing sauces or the intricacies of hosting aerial events, I say let the estate compete in those areas or even choose to sponsor these already established entities who’ve entered the market before the estate did anything with their IP.
But that’s my point. If Tolkien’s great grandchildren want to sell hot wing sauce some day, they shouldn’t have to fight some guy with a food truck because “he thought of it first.” Branding is the opposite of a trade secret, and there’s no free market solution to competition for a name. Trademarks must be defended in court, or you lose them.
That’s why I said it would be a better argument if it were “Lord of Wings” because it conveys almost exactly the same sentiment that the owner is claiming to want to convey, and removing the “the” from the title changes the cadence and format of the title, further separating it from existing IP.