TheAtomic parent
The rich stay rich, and control our culture. Tolkien has long since left this and Middle Earth.
Are they rich?
Regardless, something has gone wrong when a creator’s retirement aged grandchildren win lawsuits regarding rights to their grandparents creation.
Most of us should earn more from the long tail benefits from our work, but the copyright situation is just ridiculous.
Pretty sure the Tolkien Estate is managed by Saul Zaentz, and he was a fool to try to sue him. He has a _very_ long record of defending the IP very very strenuously.
No Saul Zaentz (who has been dead for almost 10 years) used to own Middle Earth Enterprises (previously Tolkien Enterprises) which was a division of the Saul Zaentz Company but now is owned by the Embracer Group. Zaentz bought the Worldwide Exclusive film and tv rights to the Hobbit and LotR from United Artists which bought them from Tolkien.
All of which is separate from the Tolkien Estate and the Tolkien Trust which is managed by Tolkien’s family.