An Appeal In the "Harry Potter Lexicon" Case

Posted by kdawson on Tuesday November 11, 2008 @02:28PM from the soon-to-be-on-sale-in-diagon-alley dept.

NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "RDR Books, the would-be publisher of the book version of the 'Harry Potter Lexicon' Web site, has filed an appeal from the judge's decision in Warner Bros. Pictures v. RDR Books, the case involving the Harry Potter Lexicon. The judge, after a bench trial, issued an injunction and awarded statutory damages of $6,750 (as we discussed at the time), holding that the Lexicon was not protected by fair use due to (a) sloppiness in attribution in sections, (b) the length of some of the quotes, and (c) imitation of J. K. Rowling's writing style in portions. I recently wrote an article criticizing the opinion, but doubting that an appeal would be taken in view of the small damages award. I guess I underestimated the resolve of the defendants and defendants' lawyers — who include the Stanford Law School Center for Internet and Society."

1 of 189 comments (clear)

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

Re:Summary of Previous Posts by pbhj · 2008-11-12 00:56 · Score: -1, Flamebait

Given the fact that Rowling has not sued other companion books like MuggleNet.com's and the Complete Idiot's Guide to Harry Potter, Rowling isn't against companion books per se. She was against this particular one.
You can't rush these things, give her/her publishers chance. Once they have a judgement here they'll be able to use that to beat smaller fry about the head until they are dead (and bankrupt) and not waste too much money in the process.
Sheesh.