Topic

Hobbit-holes

I meant to bring this up for discussion last week, with the launch of R2, but it slipped my mind.

First off, I am a Tolkien nerd and I absolutely love that a Hobbit-hole style house made it into the housing update! I love my swampy hobbit home. But I'm wondering if TS has any concerns with the ravenous Middle-earth Enterprise (formerly Saul Zaentz Company) swooping in, cease-and-desist in hand, demanding money for usage of the word 'hobbit'.

MEE is notorious for this crap, so much so that they've tried to copyright the word 'shire' and inspired a full-on resistance movement: savetheshire.mymiddle-earth...

To their credit, MEE has been kind of reasonable in some instances, such as the Hobbit Pub incident.

Anyways, just curious to know if this has crossed the mind of anyone else and if TS has considered it. Save the Shire!

Posted 8 months ago by shipwreck Subscriber! | Permalink

Replies

  • Or maybe they'll just go the way of the Famous Pugilist grill. :)
    Posted 8 months ago by Merrylegs Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Oh yeah, I forgot about that! I suppose "Halfling-hole" is doable.
    Posted 8 months ago by shipwreck Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I'd kind of like to call them Barrow Mounds.  But I'm sort of morbid like that.
    Posted 8 months ago by Carl Projectorinski Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Mmmmm, excellent point.  There's a fantasy gaming webcomic I read that pokes fun at the estate's overzealous lawyers by calling one of the minor sides "Hobbittm", since MEE forces everyone to stick a "TM" for trademark next to the word. 

    "Halfling-hole" certainly gets the job done though. :)
    Posted 8 months ago by Grem Sketch Subscriber! | Permalink
  • "Fantasy Novel Ground-Dwelling Food-Lovin' Tobacco-Smokin' Barefoot Invented Character Home"
    Posted 8 months ago by Flowerry Pott Subscriber! | Permalink
  • "Habitable Dirt Pile"?
    Posted 8 months ago by Carl Projectorinski Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Maybe it should be something like...
    Happy,
    Original,
    Beautiful,
    Base
    Imagination 
    Territories
    Posted 8 months ago by b3achy Subscriber! | Permalink
  • um... Hobbit is not a copy-righted term... It is a word of common usage back in Tolkiens time.... To me it is kind of like the word dwarf or midget: common, un-copy-rightable...
    Posted 8 months ago by RJStormRider Subscriber! | Permalink
  • There's only one pre-Tolkien citation for "hobbit", which is in a rather exhaustive 1857 list of names for supernatural creatures -- hardly "common usage".  But whether a word is common or unique, it can only be trademarked in specific commercial contexts, not copyrighted.  It's good to give TS a heads-up that there's a litigious entity interested in that word; I doubt they're in the wrong in any way, but that's not always the question.
    Posted 8 months ago by Fnibbit Subscriber! | Permalink
  • What Fnibbit said.

    Tolkien wasn't aware there were such things as Hobbits when he wrote about them and there is still speculation as to what possibly put the word in his head.
    Posted 8 months ago by shipwreck Subscriber! | Permalink
  • shipwreck is quite right in what they say. Even our years old small Hungry Hobbit cafe near Sarehole Mill and Moseley Bog (places associated with Tolkien's inspiration) are being forced to change their name since the film was made.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-17383704
    Note also the change from the Mike Tyson Grill to the Famous Pugilist Grill in your inventory.
     I have already taken a screenshot of the housing option for posterity.
    Posted 8 months ago by snygyst Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Hmph. I liked The Cure's response to this kind of shenanigans when they were asked to rename 'Killing An Arab'. Different setting, sure, but still...

    Surely an establishment with a name registered before the date of a film can retain their name? Otherwise -
    *dismounts hobby horse*
    *breathes*

    Okay, yeah, the heads up is good. I'll not get into why it's utterly bloody ridiculous to ask TS to change this. Unless like in that story, someone uses a logic bomb to remove all hobbits, orcs, elves and wizards from all of history... Then maybe they have a leg to stand on.
    Posted 8 months ago by arcturus Subscriber! | Permalink
  • From what I understood from previous articles, the pub that was having to make changes had punch cards with the actor's images (unauthorized) and had menu items named after specific characters.

    Edit - Found the article I'd seen in my browser history: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-17350103

    I think just the word hobbit is generic enough that there won't be a problem.  If it was "Bilbo Baggins' hobbit hole," certainly.

    In keeping with current Glitchy characters, maybe referencing the under-appreciated gnomes is the way to go?  :)
    Posted 8 months ago by Mahalla Subscriber! | Permalink