"Speculation" is a waste of money. The author of Lord of the Rings sues Amazon and owes high legal fees.

In 2017, an author named Demetrious Polychron registered his novel "The Fellowship of the King" with the U.S. Copyright Office. He then wrote to the director of the Tolkien Foundation and the grandson of "Lord of the Rings" author JRR Tolkien, asking the foundation to review the manuscript.

After getting no response, he hired a lawyer in 2019 and contacted the Tolkien Foundation again with another offer to collaborate on the project. The foundation quickly rejected his request, but he still personally delivered a copy of the manuscript to Tolkien's grandson's home.

After being ignored again, he said he planned to "independently publish" a "six-book series" he had written. In September 2022, when Amazon's "Lord of the Rings: Ring of Power" series was first aired, he published his own novel. Soon after, Polychron filed a lawsuit claiming that the American TV series "Ring of Power" borrowed ideas from its novels and demanded damages of US$250 million.

However, according to the BBC, his prosecution was subsequently dismissed. Not only that, but the judge ruled that the situation was actually the other way around: Polychron's book actually infringed the Amazon show's copyright. The Tolkien Foundation in turn filed suit against him, seeking to ban him from further publishing his books. Last week, a permanent ban was granted against him from publishing the novel and six sequels. The judge in the case also described Polychron's lawsuit as "frivolously and unreasonably filed" and ruled that he must pay $134,000 in legal fees to the Tolkien Foundation and Amazon.

Steven Maier, attorney for the Tolkien Estate, said: "This is an important victory for the Tolkien Estate. The Tolkien Estate will not allow unauthorized actors and publishers to generate revenue from JRR Tolkien's beloved works in this way. This case involves serious infringement of the copyright of "The Lord of the Rings" and was conducted on a commercial basis. The Estate hopes that the award of a permanent injunction and attorney's fees will dissuade others who may have similar intentions."