Warner Brothers Launches Lord Of The Rings Domain Name Fight

by Robin Pilgrim, LawAndTax-News.com, London

16 July 2004

It has emerged this week that Warner Brothers, New Line Productions, and The Saul Zaentz Company are planning to launch legal action against the owner of e-mail service Shiremail.com (and custodian of the not-for-profit Planet Tolkien website), alleging that he has infringed on their copyright.

In a letter recently sent to webmaster Tarrant Costelloe, Addleshaw Goddard, which is acting on behalf of the three firms, argued that:

"The SHIRE name is well-known in the UK and elsewhere, to readers of the Lord of the Rings books (and others) and the goodwill in the name has been achieved through sales of such books."

It went on to add:

"The incorporation of the SHIRE name into a domain name by you is a misrepresentation to the public that the domain is connected to the Lord of the Rings books and/or films. In particular, the registration by you of the domain name constitutes a representation to persons who consult the Whois register that you are connected to or associated with the name registered and thus the owner of licensee of the goodwill in the name, which of course you are not."

However, as The Register news service rightly points out, the term "Shire" has been in use since at least 600AD, and stems from the Saxon "schryan", which means to shear or divide.

Many counties in England, Scotland and Wales possess the suffix "shire", and the news service goes on to suggest that should Warner Brothers et al seek to pursue their case against Mr Costelloe, they "may have something to say about a US film company's efforts to claim rights over their name".

Addleshaw Goddard has asked Mr Costelloe to hand over the domain, threatening to take him to court if he refuses to do so.

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