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…
But that’s my point. If Tolkien’s great grandchildren want to sell hot wing sauce some day, they shouldn’t have to fight some guy with a food truck because “he thought of it first.” Branding is the opposite of a trade secret, and there’s no free market solution to competition for a name. Trademarks must be defended in court, or you lose them.
That’s why I said it would be a better argument if it were “Lord of Wings” because it conveys almost exactly the same sentiment that the owner is claiming to want to convey, and removing the “the” from the title changes the cadence and format of the title, further separating it from existing IP.
But that’s my point. If Tolkien’s great grandchildren want to sell hot wing sauce some day, they shouldn’t have to fight some guy with a food truck because “he thought of it first.” Branding is the opposite of a trade secret, and there’s no free market solution to competition for a name. Trademarks must be defended in court, or you lose them.
That’s why I said it would be a better argument if it were “Lord of Wings” because it conveys almost exactly the same sentiment that the owner is claiming to want to convey, and removing the “the” from the title changes the cadence and format of the title, further separating it from existing IP.