‘Tolkien’ theme park sparks copyright controversy

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THE theme park inspired by the universe and characters of JRR Tolkien set to be built in Rincon de la Victoria has met with difficulties regarding copyright issues. 

North American company Warner Bros in Spain has been analysing the project, which is to be called La Comarca (The Shire), since it was unveiled at the international tourism fair FITUR, as there was direct mention of JRR Tolkien.

In addition, representatives from the council were accompanied during the presentation by an actor dressed up as Frodo, lead character in The Lord of The Rings’ films, and other characters, which significantly resembled those of the popular fantasy author.

At the council, representatives stated that the park would only be based on “the magic of fairy tales, fantasy, elves, which are universally known and do not belong to any author.”

Opposition parties have spoken out about the possible legal consequences of the construction of the park.

“The pictures used are really similar to those widely known from The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings’ sagas, and the font used for advertisements is practically identical. We could get in serious trouble,” said a representative of Izquierda Unida party.

The council claimed that the design of characters and spaces had been carried out by municipal experts, so that the town was not charged any copyright payments.

“All the concepts will be original, they will not be able to be considered ‘copies’,” said a council representative.

Mayor of Rincon de la Victoria, Francisco Salado, guaranteed that the legal aspects had been taken care of and that the council’s goal was to have the park finished by the end of 2015, with a budget of €1.7 million.

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Comments


    • Paul Arnold

      18 February 2015 • 23:43

      Its a great idea. And deserves to be a great success, and I’m sure it will be!

    • bookworm

      02 March 2015 • 03:58

      waits for news that Tolkien estate and WB put aside their hate of each other to sue

    • Laioloi Kelrybol

      08 October 2015 • 13:49

      this sounds really cool i think im gonna go! does anone know when its gonna open

    Comments are closed.