Well, it would seem that SOMEONE always has the IP rights to anything created out of his/er imagination. Well, probably not saying it right but... As I understand it, Tolkein's hobbits, that were the creation of his mind, are protected (in some legal manner) from use in books and images. IF this is the case, then isn't SOMEONE out there the original "imaginator" of a vampire and its distinctive fangs? If so, wouldn't it follow that one is encroaching on illegal ground to ever produce an image of something with distinctive fangs, bat wings, and say it sucks blood? I mean, it doesn't have to be a likeness of Beli Lugosi only, does it? And if I can freely make images depicting vampires, then why can I not (as I understand it), make images depicting hobbits (and all their distinctive markings that would make any viewer instantily think, "hobbit")?