Judge: "Harry Potter Lexicon" Infringes Rowling's Copyrights

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 8, 2008 - 12:09pm.

New York - A federal judge on Monday sided with J.K. Rowling in a copyright suit filed by the "Harry Potter" author and Warner Bros. Entertainment (NYSE: TWX) against the creator of the "Harry Potter Lexicon," an online encyclopedia related to the novels that was due to be published in print form, the Associated Press reports. "I took no pleasure at all in bringing legal action and am delighted that this issue has been resolved favourably," Rowling said in a statement.

"The proposed book took an enormous amount of my work and added virtually no original commentary of its own. Now the court has ordered that it must not be published."

Harry Potter Lexicon creator Steven Vander Ark, and potential publisher RDR Books had argued that the work's borrowing of copyrighted material constituted "fair use" under the law.

U.S. District Judge Robert P. Patterson disagreed, stating that work "appropriates too much of Rowling's creative work for its purposes as a reference guide."

Vander Ark was also ordered to pay the plaintiffs $6,750 in statutory damages.

Related Links:
http://snipurl.com/3od3v (AP)

http://snipurl.com/3od3p (Rowling statement)

http://snipurl.com/3od6g (DMW previous coverage)