Map - Fan made.

[darkseed2012]

People are doing fan maps and I haven't heard of any problems. Lord of the Rings is a big time target for fan fiction, some of it really good too. I think if the work is done without any intent to make money you should be fine. There is even Star Trek fan made movies and a couple of series out there and they have no been bothered by the current owners of Star Trek. As long as you work doesn't make any money and if you do copyright your material; do it under Public Domain, so no one can make money selling it.

[RobA]

People are doing fan maps and I haven't heard of any problems. Lord of the Rings is a big time target for fan fiction, some of it really good too. I think if the work is done without any intent to make money you should be fine. There is even Star Trek fan made movies and a couple of series out there and they have no been bothered by the current owners of Star Trek. As long as you work doesn't make any money and if you do copyright your material; do it under Public Domain, so no one can make money selling it.

I am not a lawyer, but don't believe this is true. If there is a copyright holder, no-one can infringe on that copyright, regardless of whether it is for-profit or not.

While we tolerate "fan" maps, we have had only one take-down request I can recall, and have definitely had to remove maps created using "recycled" artwork.

Speaking for management, I doubt we would ever host a challenge focused on creating fan made maps, unless such a thing was open supported ahead of time by the universe's creator.

-Rob A>