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| | Legal Opinion on Languages and Alphabets |
 | | The Cirth seems obviously inspired by a number of ancient languages: Proto-Canaanite, Semitic, early Etruscan, Germanic Rune, Arabic, and even ancient petroglyphic and pictographic symbols are all apparent in the Cirth and other Tolkien alphabets. |
 | | Similarly with respect to the individual letter symbols of the alphabets, which despite all their angles and squiggles are not individually original enough to qualify for copyright protection, even if they didn't often resemble the earlier linguistic efforts of numerous cultures. |
 | | In my view, Tolkien's alphabet symbols come from common sources, appear to be mere variations of these public domain language elements and not copyrightable because of 1) a lack of sufficient originality and 2), because they are "mere variations of typographic ornamentation [or] lettering". |
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