Potter Case Dissects Copyright Law
Posted on: Thursday, 24 April 2008, 00:00 CDT
For a time, "Harry Potter" superfan Steven Vander Ark seemed to be living a geeky dream.
His Web site - an obsessive catalog of spells, characters and creatures in J.K. Rowling's novels - was a hit among fellow fanatics. He spoke at conventions. Journalists sought him out for interviews. He was a guest on NBC's "Today" show.
Better still, Rowling knew who he was. She gave his site, The Harry Potter Lexicon, an award and confessed that she occasionally used its online encyclopedia as a reference. Warner Bros. invited him onto the set of "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix." He even made it on to the DVD, appearing in a documentary included as a special feature.
But all that changed after a little-known publishing company, RDR Books, announced it would release a print version of the lexicon. The author and Warner Bros. sued, asking a judge to block publication on the grounds that it violated copyright law, and the case went to trial this week.
The dispute has thrust Vander Ark into the middle of a closely watched case that illustrates the muddled state of copyright law enforcement when it comes to the Web.
Computers have given just about everyone the ability to copy sections of books, movies or songs and whip them into something new that they can post on the Internet.
The Web is awash with fan-produced material that could be the subject of a copyright fight, from remixed pop songs, to new fiction based on existing characters from books and TV shows, to countless tribute videos cut together with clips from TV shows or films.
"There is almost a parallel universe," said Alan Behr, an intellectual property lawyer in New York. "On the Internet, people basically do things you would never do in print."
And, for the most part, Behr said, the big media companies that own the material being mashed up and manipulated let it slide. There are simply too many offenders to chase, he said.
Warner Bros. and Rowling took a different approach when they sued on Halloween last year. During a three-day trial that concluded Wednesday, Rowling savaged Vander Ark as a plagiarist and a thief, saying the lexicon ripped off too much material from her books. It all reduced Vander Ark to tears at one point during the trial.
It was a surprising departure for Rowling, who has encouraged so- called "fan fiction" and once said there is nothing wrong with people writing new stories for her characters, to share with friends.
The author and her lawyers said they were stirred to action by the proposal to move the Potter lexicon from the anything-goes Web, where it was available for free, into book form, where it would compete directly with a Potter encyclopedia that Rowling plans to write herself.
In short, by deciding to sell his material, Vander Ark was stepping across a line. He was no longer just an enthusiastic fan, but a professional and potential competitor - fair game for the lawyers.
The question now for the courts is whether the lexicon itself violates copyright law, and the decision might not be easy.
Source: Telegraph - Herald
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