Rowling, Warner Bros, sue ‘Harry’ lexicon
p2pnet news | Movies:- Warner Bros Entertainment and Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling are going after a small Michigan firm to stop it from publishing a dictionary of characters and creatures from the famous book series.
Warner Bros, owned by Time Warner, the world’s largest media company, and Rowling sued RDR Books, “saying the company plans to release a 400-page book entitled the ‘Harry Potter Lexicon’ next month,” saiys Bloomberg News, going on RDR’s “widespread misappropriation of Ms. Rowling’s fictional characters and universe” includes “list after list of spells and potions, imaginary places, fantastic creatures and invented games,” the complaint says.
RDR Books said Steve Vander Ark based the lexicon on his fan Web site, www.hp-lexicon.org, used by 25 million visitors and called “a great site” by Rowling herself, says the Washington Post, going on:
In a statement on Wednesday, Rowling said even though she loved fan sites, she hoped to write “the definitive Harry Potter encyclopedia, which will include all the material that never made it into the novels” and donate the proceeds to charity.
“I cannot, therefore, approve of ‘companion books’ or ‘encyclopedias’ that seek to pre-empt my definitive Potter reference book for their authors’ own personal gain,” she said. “The losers in such a situation would be the charities that I hope, eventually, to benefit.”
Says the disclaimer on the site:
The Harry Potter Lexicon is an unofficial fan web site and is not associated in any way with J. K. Rowling, Warner Bros., or any other official entity.
The Lexicon is committed to upholding copyright law and does not knowingly use any images or text illegally.
“We live in a country that has a free press, and we’re going to publish it,” Bloomberg has RDR owner Roger Rapoport declaring.
Warner Brothers v. RDR Books, 07-cv-9667, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan).
Also See:
Bloomberg News – Warner Brothers, Rowling Sue to Stop Potter `Lexicon’ , October 31, 2007
Washington Post – Rowling, Warner Bros. sue over Potter book, October 31, 2007
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November 1st, 2007 at 8:28 am
A PREVENTIVE COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT LAWSUIT
It is nonsense to sue for copyright infringement someone because of what that someone plans to publish. In this case, Warner Bros Entertainment and Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling have to wait until an actual book is published and sold before filing a lawsuit.
This is another case of a lawyer a lawyer that does not know what copyright infringement is. Iam giving the lawyer the benefit of the doubt, because instead of inorance it could be malice and indifference to doing damage to others. Then the question is why are people, file sharers, that also may also not know what is copyright infringement, exposed to very damaging and disrupting lawsuit? Any answers?