Hobbit Pub told to change name

A well loved pub in Southampton has been given notice to change its name or be sued under the copyright laws for using a copyrighted brand.

Hopefully link provided.

www.bbc.co.uk...

To me this is a tragedy to classic literature and a self defeating exercise of Hollywood's power. Okay its a small local pub but the ramifications are enormous.

Tolkien represents some of the best classic literature available. He drew on histories and folklore to create a modern mythos based on available British folklore because he believed that the epic saga of good versus evil needed retelling to the (at the time) current audience. (Please note this is my understanding of why he wrote the saga, but enough to say the guy was very very well read in British Folklore and wished to retell it to bring it to common light.)

Can Hollywood claim to own folklore? Hobbit, Hob, Brownie.

Are we next to see Shakespeare branded and Puck, Pwka, Pook on the list? Or Oberon or Hamlet?

I actually feel this is ironic - big business (orcs) versus little guy (Hobbit). Is this self defeating advertising?

Thanks for your time.

S

Incredibly shameful and disgusting. The absolute opposite of humble.

I was thinking about getting a Lord of the Rings blu-ray volume set, since the extended editions are out... but it looks like I won't be owning any of these movies anytime soon. Haven't bought any yet, never will now...

Really garish display of arrogance.

reply to post by Shelbee


That's ridiculous, and infuriatingly so. The Hobbit, for those of us who grew up in a certain generation, (and maybe more than one generation), is a part of our culture, because it was part of our childhood, and we all know how strong those ties can be. No one "owns" that. Mmmmph! These corporations, Hollywood included, are annoying me everywhere I turn today.

reply to post by SyphonX


just download the trilogy online and stick it to those greedy bastards who won't even allow a small business owner some extra profit.

even though hollywood has made billions of someone else's work.

reply to post by Shelbee


This is close to my home, though I haven't gone to it...

hobbitrestaurant.com...


Wonder why the one in Southampton got hit by them and not this one...


Either way, weak sauce on the legal move.

reply to post by facelift


Yeah I thought it was that one when I read the thread title, I love that place took my 2nd wife on our 1st date there

Oops no we have another one in Yorkshire here www.sugarvine.com... I guess they may all get a letter soon enough.
Back to the OP they are taking it to the extreme arn't they? If anything the pub may introduce people to the books and they should just consider it as a bit of free advertising.

reply to post by facelift
So the Hobbits tale is about to go on release then.

You know what they say. Any publicity is good publicity. Its an advertising ploy nothing more.

I always wondered why Duff Town in Scotland never set up a brewery to make Duff Beer.

reply to post by facelift


Coca cola did a similar thing with a restaurant named Relentless and there have been a couple of places called The Hobbit that have already been hit. My daughter pointed out that it might be a 'Google' thing. If it turns up in the first few pages on google search they will get a 'visit'.

How can this pub in Southampton infringe on copyright surely if anything its free promotion
Landlady Stella(mmmmstella)Roberts should dig in and tell
Saul Zaentz
to Sod Off
in my opinion

Cran

reply to post by colin42


Normally I would agree - however, consider the fan base and the mythos, this would seem self defeating. They are setting themselves up as the bad guys.

Its bullying tactics - which - given the British mentality - is not a good advertising ploy. We just love a good underdog.

But remember kids...People only pirate Hollywood movies because they're lazy and don't want to pay for things , not because they are offended by and don't want to support abhorrent behavior like this.

reply to post by Shelbee
Here is a bet.

Pretty soon you will be seeing Orcs, Wizards and hobbits and maybe a Cave Troll protesting oustide the pub and the press happily snapping away And headlines like 'Elf Off' or 'Hands off our pub, Hobbit or Elf.'

I'm pretty sure Tolkien didn't invent the word or concept "hobbit". Folklore did.
Ridiculous.

Originally posted by colin42
reply to post by Shelbee

 

Here is a bet.

Pretty soon you will be seeing Orcs, Wizards and hobbits and maybe a Cave Troll protesting oustide the pub and the press happily snapping away And headlines like 'Elf Off' or 'Hands off our pub, Hobbit or Elf.'

That my friend would be awesome to see.

reply to post by Kali74


Exactly - Hobbit, Hob, Brownie et al.

How can you brand folklore and what's next... Robin Hood?

just rename it the green dragon Inn

Originally posted by Kali74
I'm pretty sure Tolkien didn't invent the word or concept "hobbit". Folklore did.
Ridiculous.

he certainly did

reply to post by syrinx high priest


No he didn't.

Evidence of earlier use

The only source known today that makes reference to hobbits in any sort of historical context is the Denham Tracts by Michael Aislabie Denham. More specifically, it appears in the Denham Tracts, edited by James Hardy, (London: Folklore Society, 1895), vol. 2, the second part of a two-volume set compiled from Denham's publications between 1846 and 1859. The text contains a long list of sprites and bogies, based on an older list, the Discovery of Witchcraft, dated 1584, with many additions and a few repetitions. The term hobbit is listed in the context of boggleboes, bogies, redmen, portunes, grants, hobbits, hobgoblins, brown-men, cowies, dunnies In the December 2003 Oxford English Dictionary newsletter, in the "Words of Choice " section, the following appears: 4. hobbit — J. R. R. Tolkien modestly claimed not to have coined this word, although the Supplement to the OED credited him with the invention of it in the absence of further evidence. It seems, however, that Tolkien was right to be cautious. It has since turned up in one of those 19th-century folklore journals, in a list of long-forgotten words for fairy-folk or little people. It seems likely that Tolkien, with his interest in folklore, read this and subconsciously registered the name, reviving it many years later in his most famous character. [Editor's note: although revision of the OED's entry for hobbit will of course take this evidence for earlier use into account, it does not yet appear in the online version of the entry.]

wikipedia

Someone should contact Peter Jackson. He likes a good drink now and again.
Also, he came from humble beginnings with cult classics such as "Bad Taste" and "Meet the Feebles" and it would be shameful if he didn't stand up against this kind of injustice.

reply to post by Kali74


well who hasn't read the the Denham Tracts by Michael Aislabie Denham afterall