In the news. . .
Film companies threaten copyright infringement lawsuits against PETA over the animal rights group’s repeated unauthorized use of film clips in their advertising campaigns.
British judge refuses to dismiss plagiarism lawsuit against J.K. Rowling, stating plaintiff claiming Rowling stole ideas for “Harry Potter” from obscure [...]
Continue Reading →The advent of new technology almost inevitably brings pronouncements of existing technology’s death. We have all heard that “Video Killed the Radio Star,” Napster killed the recording industry, and DVRs are killing advertising. Now add to this mix, a new murderer: Apple’s iPad.
One of the [...]
Continue Reading →Harry Potter’s battle against Voldemort lasted for seven years, and sometimes it seems as if the battle over his Lexicon will take just as long. After RDR Books, publishers of the Harry Potter Lexicon, lost a copyright infringement action brought by JK Rowling and Warner Brothers (the decision is detailed in our blog [...]
Continue Reading →Just two weeks after JK Rowling won a copyright infringement suit against RDR books, a court in Delhi, India, in a totally separate case, has given the greenlight to Hari Puttar: A Comedy of Terrors.
Warner Brothers, which owns the rights to the Harry [...]
Continue Reading →On Friday, I speculated here at JETLawBlog about whether RDR Books would appeal Judge Patterson’s decision against them, particularly if they consider editing The Lexicon first. After all, the detailed decision made it very clear what parts of the Lexicon are particularly problematic when it comes to unlawful use of J.K. Rowling’s work.
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Continue Reading →After nearly five months of speculation from fans, bloggers, and legal scholars alike, a New York judge handed down a verdict in favor of J.K. Rowling (and Warner Brothers, holders of the film rights in her books) in the controversial copyright case involving “The Harry Potter Lexicon,” a fan-website-turned-unauthorized-reference-book. As our blog mentioned [...]
Continue Reading →Yesterday afternoon Judge Patterson of the Southern District of New York ruled that Steven Vander Ark’s “Harry Potter Lexicon,” an encyclopedia intended to chronicle the famous Harry Potter series, infringed on J.K. Rowling’s copyright for the series. The Harry Potter Lexicon began as a fan website dedicated to serving as “the ultimate Harry [...]
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