On: Tolkien estate wins court order to destroy fan's '...

[ClumsyPilot]

Taking away the hammer would placing the fanwork into public domain.

Here, we are specifically destroying the hammer as a punishment.

[ceejayoz → ClumsyPilot]

It woudl be odd for the court to resolve a copyright infringement case by more copyright infringement. It's not theirs to put in the public domain; it's the Tolkien estate's IP.

[runeofdoom → ClumsyPilot]

It is, for all practical purposes. The court posted the whole thing in an official document.