<P> The Tolkien Estate is the legal body which manages the property of the English writer J.R.R. Tolkien, including the copyright for most of his works . The individual copyrights have for the most part been assigned by the estate to subsidiary entities such as the J.R.R. Tolkien Discretionary Settlement and the Tolkien charitable trust . The various holdings of the Tolkien family, including the estate, have been organized under The Tolkien Company, the directors of which are Christopher Tolkien, his wife Baillie Tolkien, and J.R.R. Tolkien's grandson Michael George Tolkien . The executors of the estate proper are Christopher Tolkien, who is sole literary executor, and (succeeding J.R.R. Tolkien's lawyer Frank Williamson) Cathleen Blackburn of Maier Blackburn, who has also been the estate's solicitor for many years . </P> <P> The lawsuits below refer to an entity entitled Fourth Age, Ltd. which was formed in November 2011 . Although court records do not reflect this, according to UK corporate records Fourth Age, Ltd. changed its name on 21 February 2013 to Tolkien Estate, Ltd . Its directors include Tolkien family members Baillie Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien, Priscilla Tolkien, Simon Tolkien and Michael George Tolkien, as well as the Tolkien Estate attorney, Steven Andrew Maier . </P>

When does the copyright on lord of the rings expire