JRR Tolkien Estate Blocks Token

Lawyers representing the estate of famed writer JRR Tolkien have successfully blocked a cryptocurrency known as JRR Token that was launched in August. The lawsuit alleged that the token infringed on copyrights held by the estate, while the developer was selling and promoting the token on websites like jrrtoken.com. The developer of the token used similar language to that in the Lord of the Rings book series, and the lawsuit further alleged that the jrrtoken.com website intentionally misled visitors into believing that there was a legitimate commercial connection between the author, his estate, and the currency. While the JRR Token developer said “the fact that the disputed domain name brings to mind the complainant's trademarks are indicative of the parody evoked by the JRR Token mark, not of any purported bad faith,” it was ordered to pay what was described as “significant” legal fees to Tolkien’s estate.