Tolkien estate defeats cryptocurrency with the subject of Lord of the Rings

The estate of JRR Tolkien, the author of the Lord of the Rings, has successfully defeated a cryptocurrency that describes itself as "The One Token that Rules All".

The cryptocurrency JRR TOKE was launched in August with a website that contained rings, hobbit holes and a magician with an uncanny similarity to Gandalf.

But the Tolkien estate that manages the rights to JRR Tolkien the hobbit and the Lord of the Rings fantasy novels, quickly to submit a complaint with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the global forum for the policy of intellectual property.

It found that the domains name of the cryptocurrency website violates its brands. Tolkien's novels were made a trilogy of Hollywood films, directed by Peter Jackson and with Ian McKellen in the leading role.

The lawyers of Matthew Jensen, the developer of JRR token based in Florida, said

in the response that "token" was a general term, should not be confused with the surname Tolkien and no intellectual property is violated.

The decision of the WIPO administration committee came to the conclusion that there was no doubt that the developer "knows Tolkien's works and created a website to exchange the fame of these works".

The Tolkien estate said that it has now restored the domestic name Jrrtoken.com and received the developer's promise to hire all operations under the name JRR token and to delete all relevant websites and social media accounts.

Steven Maier, lawyer at the law firm Maier Blackburn, who worked for the estate of JRR Tolkien, said that this was a "particularly blatant violation" and added that the estate was "vigilant" to prevent unauthorized time to use to exploit the name JRR tolkien.

In the past, the Tolkien estate has sued tourism and trading companies because they used the author's name and literary works, but this is the first time that it is going on against cryptocurrency.

Johnson Dalal, the US law firm, which Jensen represents, was asked for a comment, but had not yet answered at the time of publication.