- JRR Token has been pulled from Binance Smart Chain after the founder agreed to scrap it following pressure from the estate of J.R.R. Tolkien
- As well as the name, JRR Token used imagery from Lord of the Rings
- The estate sued the creator, Matthew Jensen, who has finally admitted defeat
Lord of the Rings-themed cryptocurrency JRR Token won’t be leading to any piles of treasure for traders thanks to the creator settling a lawsuit with the estate of author JRR Tolkien. JRR Token creator Matthew Jensen was sued by the estate of the world famous trilogy’s creator after the token launched on Binance smart Chain in August this year, presumably taking umbrage at the fact that Jensen used Lord of the Rings characters in his advertising, as well as the closeness to the name.
Lord of The Rings Actor Promoted JRR Token
JRR Token three months ago with a market supply of 19 trillion and no purpose other than to exist and, presumably, make its creator money. Interestingly, the coin was promoted by actor Billy Boyd, who played Pippin in the cinematic version of the stories, shortly after its launch, although any assumed association with the author’s estate was short lived – on August 10 the estate successfully recovered the website domain name ‘jrrtoken.com’ after filing a complaint with the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).
Jensen Admits Defeat
Jensen changed the domain name to www.thetokenofpower.com in an attempt to distance the coin from the franchise, but left images of rings, Hobbit holes, and a familiar-looking wizard on there. Jensen’s lawyers tried to argue that the disputed domain name JRR Token “is not identical or confusingly similar” to the Tolkien estate’s registered trademark ‘J.R.R. Tolkien’ because it didn’t contain the additional letters ‘L’ and ‘I’ and was also pronounced differently.
Unsurprisingly this didn’t wash with the Tolkien estate and they pursued the case, with Jensen eventually backing down and removing all traces of JRR Token from the internet.
There and back again, you could say.
