2 ms·

Well, if that particular phrase is poisoned, I guess I could just say "Hobbit" instead, which is owned as a trademark IIRC by the Tolkien estate and they're ver

Well, if that particular phrase is poisoned, I guess I could just say "Hobbit" instead, which is owned as a trademark IIRC by the Tolkien estate and they're very litigious about it. You can't say "Hobbit" in your own stories. But you can say "Halfling", and that's how people tend to get around that problem. Blonde Thor is Disney/Marvel (Historical Thor was a redhead IIRC, so Blonde Thor is Disney/Marvel Trademark), etc. etc. Plenty of restrictions on Free Speech in practice.

dragonwriter 3y ago
> You can't say "Hobbit" in your own stories You can, though. You can't use it to market your stories or other products, and there's some manners of use innthr body of a book that might run some risk of liability for dilution or tarnishment, but...
habinero 3y ago
Of course you can. You can write about hobbits, make youtube videos discussing them, whatever. There's a lot of fanfic on hobbits out there. You can make fun of hobbits. If you want to use copyrighted characters and it's not fair use, then no.