[MCN-L] IP SIG: NYT on Latest Harry Potter Fair Use Flap
New York Times February 9, 2008 Talking Business; Page B1 A Tight Grip Can Choke Creativity By JOE NOCERA On Friday, a lawyer named Anthony Falzone filed his side's first big brief in the case of Warner Bros. Entertainment and J. K. Rowling v. RDR Books. Mr. Falzone is employed by Stanford Law School, where he heads up the Fair Use Project, which was founded several years ago by Lawrence Lessig, perhaps the law school's best-known professor. Mr. Falzone and the other lawyers at the Fair Use Project are siding with the defendant, RDR Books, a small book publisher based in Muskegon, Mich. As you can see from the titans who have brought the suit, RDR Books needs all the legal firepower it can muster. As you can probably also see, the case revolves around Harry Potter. J. K. Rowling, of course, is the creator of the Harry Potter series -- one of the most successful writers the world has ever known, crowed Neil Blair of the Christopher Little Literary Agency, which represents her. Warner Brothers holds the license to the Harry Potter movies. Of the two plaintiffs, though, Ms. Rowling appears to be the one driving the litigation. I feel as though my name and my works have been hijacked, against my wishes, for the personal gain and profit of others and diverted from the charities I intended to benefit, she said in a declaration to the court. And what perfidious act of hijacking has RDR Books committed? It planned to publish a book by Steven Vander Ark, who maintains a fansite called the Harry Potter Lexicon. The Lexicon publishes Harry Potter essays, finds Harry Potter mistakes, explains Harry Potter terminology, devises Harry Potter timelines and does a thousand other things aimed at people who can't get enough Harry Potter. It's a Harry Potter encyclopedia for obsessive fans. So long as the Lexicon was a free Web site, Ms. Rowling looked kindly upon it. But when Mr. Vander Ark tried to publish part of the Lexicon in book form - and (shudder!) to make a profit - Ms. Rowling put her foot down. She claims that she wants to publish her own encyclopedia someday and donate the proceeds to charity and a competing book by Mr. Vander Ark would hurt the prospects for her own work. But more than that, she is essentially claiming that the decision to publish - or even to allow - a Harry Potter encyclopedia is hers alone, since after all, the characters in her books came out of her head. They are her intellectual property. And in her view, no one else can use them without her permission... ___
[MCN-L] IP SIG: Re: Free Webcast Friday on the Value of Fair Use
I couldn't register and sign onto _http://www.educause.edu/live083_ (http://www.educause.edu/live083) to access the free webcast. Is membership to educause a prerequisite? Barbara Treitel In a message dated 2/10/2008 7:09:21 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, akeshet at imj.org.il writes: By the way, I did catch this, and it was indeed worth it. More webcasts coming up, and an archive of previous ones: http://www.educause.edu/live/ Amalyah - Original Message - From: akes...@imj.org.il To: mcn-l at mcn.edu Sent: Wednesday, January 30, 2008 6:46 PM Subject: [MCN-L] IP SIG: Free Webcast Friday on the Value of Fair Use Sounds worth catching this on Friday if you can. Amalyah Keshet Chair, MCN IP SIG --- ???: Steve Worona : ? 29/01/2008 18:45 : Free Webcast Friday on the value of Fair Use My next EDUCAUSE Live! Webcast features Matt Schruers, Senior Council for Litigation and Legislative Affairs with the Computer and Communications Industry Association, speaking on Copyright Fair Use and the Economy. 1-2pm Eastern Time, Friday, Feb. 1. No charge, but registration required at http://www.educause.edu/live083. Summary: The copyright legislative process in Washington traditionally focuses on increasing the protection provided to copyrights, based on the assumption that this will strengthen the economy. Recent research, however, indicates that exceptions to copyright protection also promote innovation and are a major catalyst of U.S. economic growth. Specific exceptions to copyright protection under U.S. and international law, generally classified under the broad heading of fair use, are vital to many industries and stimulate growth across the economy. In fact, business enterprises that benefit from fair use generate substantial revenue, employ millions of workers, and, in 2006, represented one-sixth of total U.S. gross domestic product. This economic research suggests that future copyright legislation needs to account for these important limitations if the policy-making process is to stimulate growth. All EDUCAUSE Live! Webcasts are archived for later (re)viewing. See you Friday. Steve -- Steven L. Worona Director of Policy and Networking Programs EDUCAUSE / 1150 18th St. NW suite 1010 / Washington, DC 20036 202-872-4200 x 5358 / 202-872-4318 fax / sworona at educause.edu ___ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l **Biggest Grammy Award surprises of all time on AOL Music. (http://music.aol.com/grammys/pictures/never-won-a-grammy?NCID=aolcmp00300025 48)
