Tolkien Estate Gets Ridiculous
- July 14, 2004
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Apparently, the Tolkien estate feels like it owns the word “shire”. It has cracked down on someone who owns the shiremail.com domain, saying that the use of the word “shire” was a bad thing since it confused people into believing the domain was somehow connected with the real works of Tolkien.
Unfortunately for the Tolkien estate, the word “shire” has been around a looong time. The Romans were still in England when it first came into use. And as the article points out, it’s VERY likely that Tolkien was influenced by the ancient references to shires. After all, there are plenty of townships all over England that have the word “shire” in their name.
I think the Tolkien estate is going to lose this one.