this post was submitted on 24 Mar 2026
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Specific names of fictional places, characters, created words? Gandalf, Bilbo, Legolas, etc. are all covered under the copyright on the IP right? If Disney can sue every daycare that painted Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck or Toontown on their wall without permission, surely the Tolkien estate could claim ownership of "Palantir" and "Anduril" and "Valar" and "Lembas" when a for-profit corporation tries to coast off the name recognition from Tolkien's works in their brand name. Mithril/Mithral is so widespread now in its usage I don't think that one is going back in the bottle as it has entered widespread adoption.
I still doubt this would fly even assuming they did this as soon as Palantir dropped as the first company. It would have been their best bet though. They are definitely too late now because precedent has been set with them not challenging Palantir or any of the followups for years.
And even if this is a valid lawsuit, the Tolkien Estate would be bled dry by the legal fees while Peter Thiel would not notice the expense. He'd likely end up owning the rights to LOTR at the end of the attempt.