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J. K. Rowling Wins $6,750 In Infringement Case

Posted by kdawson on from the slap-it-into-gringott's-bank dept.

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "J. K. Rowling didn't make enough money on Harry Potter, so she had to make sure that the 'Harry Potter Lexicon' was shut down. After a trial in Manhattan in Warner Bros. v. RDR Books, she won, getting the judge to agree with her (and her friends at Warner Bros. Entertainment) that the 'Lexicon' did not qualify for fair use protection. In a 68-page decision (PDF) the judge concluded that the Lexicon did a little too much 'verbatim copying,' competed with Ms. Rowling's planned encyclopedia, and might compete with her exploitation of songs and poems from the Harry Potter books, although she never made any such claim in presenting her evidence. The judge awarded her $6,750 and granted her an injunction that would prevent the 'Lexicon' from seeing the light of day." Groklaw has an exhaustive discussion of the judgement.

2 of 521 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Thanks, NewYorkCountryLawyer! by Starlet+Monroe · · Score: 0, Redundant

    I wish I could mod myself -1 Complainy, but I gotta agree here...this is a deeply biased and agendized summary. Mod the summary -1 Disappointed. :(

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  2. Re:Poor Harry... by lgw · · Score: 0, Redundant

    I know the free crack that comes with mod points is very tempting, but come on - the parent post was just answering the GPP's question about what the FP meant. An honest answer to an honest question. Try smoking the crack *after* using the mod points next time.

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    Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.