Interesting Links for 07-03-2022
Mar. 7th, 2022 12:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
andrewducker- 1.5 million people have fled Ukraine. The UK has taken...50 of them. (1% of applicants)
- (tags:Ukraine war UK refugee OhForFucksSake )
- Anyone got a less stupid idea for what this is than I had?
- (tags:weird sculpture UK )
- After 1,000 years the 9 tailed fox demoness is free!
- (tags:Japan religion demon Doom )
- We Don't Talk About Fight Club (a song inspired by the first rule of Bruno)
- (tags:FightClub Disney funny song )
- The Tolkien Estate is taking on fandom
- (tags:Tolkien OhForFucksSake fanfic copyright )
- A letter from Ukrainian artists to the world's artists
- (tags:ukraine art russia war )
no subject
Date: 2022-03-07 01:15 pm (UTC)Clearly there are ways!
no subject
Date: 2022-03-07 01:23 pm (UTC)Tolkien Estate
Date: 2022-03-07 01:28 pm (UTC)The prohibition against musical settings of Tolkien's words was announced some years ago. Permission had been granted in the past (notably to the Tolkien Ensemble and to Broceliande, the two finest purveyors of Tolkien song settings in my opinion), but the Estate was announcing that it would no longer do so for future applicants, on the grounds that it did not have the time and expertise to evaluate the large volume of requests. I consider this tremendously regrettable, and said so at the time, though I cannot now find my post saying so.
It is unfortunate that the other no-permit statements, especially regarding fan fiction, did not take the tack of the one regarding invented languages, which is that you can do anything you want for your own private amusement, but you can't publish it without permission. Posting it on the web counts as publishing it.
The fact is that AO3 and such website are massive violations of copyright, and they go forward without molestation for the same reason that alcohol was widely distributed in the US during Prohibition, which is that the demand is so widespread and the opportunities so open that the law can't stop them.
This comparison in turn suggests that it's the prohibition which ought to be eliminated, and maybe it should. Certainly the copyright period during which it applies has been made absurdly long. Prior to 1976, copyright in the US lasted a maximum of 42 years, in which case The Lord of the Rings would have gone out of copyright in 1997. This was fairly lengthened for royalties, since some creators (e.g. Irving Berlin) were outliving their copyrights, but it's way too long for fan-fiction purposes. However, the abuse that has been poured by fan-fiction advocates onto creative artists who ask for their works not to be subject to this while they're still alive has curdled my sympathy for fan fiction. So I'm not in a good position to opine on what proper justice is.
Quotations from Tolkien's works, as one of the commenters notes, is governed by fair use rules. The problem is that fair use is not strictly defined, which is probably why it's not mentioned though it should be. Extensive quotation, however, requires permission and it always has. This is not new, it's very old.
Things like public readings also count as publications of the text. You can't blithely print your own edition of Tolkien's book; this is the same thing. A wise copyright holder, however, would wave readings off as insignificant violations.
Use of the name "Tolkien" on something, however, is different. That's trademark law and not copyright law, and in the US you cannot ignore violations if you wish to preserve your trademark. So mandatory licensing is required.
I can only add that, as editor of a Tolkien scholarly journal, I've had many dealings with the Estate regarding permissions. Aside from occasional slowness in response, they've always been courteous and helpful, and generous in permission. The website notes that for reproductions of artwork and of manuscript material, you need to go through the libraries that hold them (though for actual publication the Estate needs to give its OK), and those I have found even more responsive. They're in the business of getting their material legitimately used, and they know it.
Re: Tolkien Estate
Date: 2022-03-07 08:55 pm (UTC)