Cornfed Hick
Ancient Mariner
Worth noting -- particularly for those who maintain fan sites such as He Who Must Not Be Named's Iron Maiden Commentary -- is the recent decision in New York federal court enjoining the publication of the Harry Potter Lexicon book, and holding that it infringes Rowling's works and is not fair use. I am by no means suggesting that this opinion would require that the IMC be taken down -- it probably doesn't, and to the contrary, I'd love it if someone would pick up where He Who Must Not Be Named left off -- but it is worth reading the attached article, if not the entire 68-page opinion. The problem with judicial opinions like this is that they don't establish bright-line rules or safe harbors upon which people like He Who Must Not Be Named can rely in putting together sites like this. The court says that the Lexicon, though it does add value to the world, goes too far in copying the original expression in the Harry Potter books, but doesn't really say where the line was crossed. Instead, it applies a balancing test. Notably, though the court merely enjoined the publication of the Lexicon book, the Lexicon website also appears to have been taken down.
Here's the article, as reported on the New York Times website:
‘Potter’ Author Wins Copyright Ruling
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The author of the “Harry Potter” series, J.. K. Rowling, has won her claim that a fan violated her copyright with his plans to publish a Potter encyclopedia.
Judge Robert P. Patterson of Federal District Court said Ms. Rowling had proved that Steven Vander Ark’s “Harry Potter Lexicon” would cause her irreparable harm as a writer. He permanently blocked publication of the reference guide and awarded Ms. Rowling and her publisher $6,750 in statutory damages.
Ms. Rowling sued RDR Books last year to stop publication of material from the Harry Potter Lexicon Web site. Mr. Vander Ark, a former school librarian, runs the site, which is a guide to the seven Potter books and includes detailed descriptions of characters, creatures, spells and potions.
The small publisher was not contesting that the lexicon infringes upon Ms. Rowling’s copyright but argued that it was a fair use allowable for reference books. In his ruling, Judge Patterson noted that reference materials were generally useful to the public but that in this case, Mr. Vander Ark went too far.
“While the Lexicon, in its current state, is not a fair use of the Harry Potter works, reference works that share the Lexicon’s purpose of aiding readers of literature generally should be encouraged rather than stifled,” the judge said.
He added that he ruled in Ms. Rowling’s favor because the “Lexicon appropriates too much of Rowling’s creative work for its purposes as a reference guide.”
Anthony Falzone, who argued the case for RDR Books, said he had not yet seen the ruling and could not immediately comment. RDR’s publisher, Roger Rapoport, did not immediately return a telephone message for comment.
A spokeswoman for Ms. Rowling and her publisher, Warner Brothers Entertainment, did not immediately return a telephone message for comment.
Though Ms. Rowling had once praised the Web site, she testified earlier this year that the lexicon was nothing more than a rearrangement of her material.
She said she was so distressed at the prospect that it would be published that she had stopped work on a new novel. “It’s really decimated my creative work over the last month,” she said during the trial in April.
If the lexicon is published, she went on, “I firmly believe that carte blanche will be given to anyone who wants to make a quick bit of money, to divert some Harry Potter profits into their own pockets.”
Mr. Vander Ark, a devoted fan of Ms. Rowling, began work on his Web site in 1999 and released it in 2000.
Here's the article, as reported on the New York Times website:
‘Potter’ Author Wins Copyright Ruling
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The author of the “Harry Potter” series, J.. K. Rowling, has won her claim that a fan violated her copyright with his plans to publish a Potter encyclopedia.
Judge Robert P. Patterson of Federal District Court said Ms. Rowling had proved that Steven Vander Ark’s “Harry Potter Lexicon” would cause her irreparable harm as a writer. He permanently blocked publication of the reference guide and awarded Ms. Rowling and her publisher $6,750 in statutory damages.
Ms. Rowling sued RDR Books last year to stop publication of material from the Harry Potter Lexicon Web site. Mr. Vander Ark, a former school librarian, runs the site, which is a guide to the seven Potter books and includes detailed descriptions of characters, creatures, spells and potions.
The small publisher was not contesting that the lexicon infringes upon Ms. Rowling’s copyright but argued that it was a fair use allowable for reference books. In his ruling, Judge Patterson noted that reference materials were generally useful to the public but that in this case, Mr. Vander Ark went too far.
“While the Lexicon, in its current state, is not a fair use of the Harry Potter works, reference works that share the Lexicon’s purpose of aiding readers of literature generally should be encouraged rather than stifled,” the judge said.
He added that he ruled in Ms. Rowling’s favor because the “Lexicon appropriates too much of Rowling’s creative work for its purposes as a reference guide.”
Anthony Falzone, who argued the case for RDR Books, said he had not yet seen the ruling and could not immediately comment. RDR’s publisher, Roger Rapoport, did not immediately return a telephone message for comment.
A spokeswoman for Ms. Rowling and her publisher, Warner Brothers Entertainment, did not immediately return a telephone message for comment.
Though Ms. Rowling had once praised the Web site, she testified earlier this year that the lexicon was nothing more than a rearrangement of her material.
She said she was so distressed at the prospect that it would be published that she had stopped work on a new novel. “It’s really decimated my creative work over the last month,” she said during the trial in April.
If the lexicon is published, she went on, “I firmly believe that carte blanche will be given to anyone who wants to make a quick bit of money, to divert some Harry Potter profits into their own pockets.”
Mr. Vander Ark, a devoted fan of Ms. Rowling, began work on his Web site in 1999 and released it in 2000.
