Readers here shouldn’t need to be reminded that the Tolkien Estate, through its company Middle-Earth Enterprises, is known to be extremely aggressive with its enforcement of intellectual prop…
Don’t have much knowledge of NZ laws, but they certainly have a vested interest in keeping the Tolkien estate happy. Whether they have prior laws to support that, or there was pressure from the top in this case, it tracks that the lawsuit ended like this.
I don’t think a food truck counts as satire. Satire is like the “Bored of the Rings” Lampoon book from the '70s, it actually had something to say regarding the material it was satirical of.
I may be underestimating the satirical capacity of a food truck, or maybe the legal definition of satire in NZ, but to me it’s just a cheeky name.
Satire isn’t protected in New Zealand?
Don’t have much knowledge of NZ laws, but they certainly have a vested interest in keeping the Tolkien estate happy. Whether they have prior laws to support that, or there was pressure from the top in this case, it tracks that the lawsuit ended like this.
I don’t think a food truck counts as satire. Satire is like the “Bored of the Rings” Lampoon book from the '70s, it actually had something to say regarding the material it was satirical of.
I may be underestimating the satirical capacity of a food truck, or maybe the legal definition of satire in NZ, but to me it’s just a cheeky name.