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J.K. Rowling, Warner Brothers File Suit Over Unpublished Book Citng Infringement.
NEW YORK, October 31, 2007 -- J.K. Rowling and Warner Brothers Entertainment filed suit against book publisher RDR Books and various unidentified individuals because of the unpublished book The Harry Potter Lexicon, citing trademark and copyright infringment.
Warner Brothers Entertainment and the author of the popular Harry Potter books filed suit today seeking an injunction against the publisher of the yet-to-be published 400 page book The Harry Potter Lexicon while asking for actual damages, statutory damages (for the copyright infringement claim), treble damages, costs and attorneys fees.
The book is essentially the book version of the the free-of-charge Harry Potter Lexicon fan website, which is a knowledge base of all things Potter maintained by Steve Vander Ark. Rowling has even admitted to using the site when writing new installments in the series for the purpose of fact checking for continuity.
The complaint alleges federal copyright and trademark infringment, in addition to claims for deceptive trade practices and unfair competition under New York law. Between Warner Brothers and Rowling, the plaintiffs hold over 15 federal trademark registrations for the HARRY POTTER mark. the two most relevant registrations are Reg. Nos. 2,450,788 (word mark) and 2,685,932 (stylized) for “printed matter and paper goods” which includes books.
Before filing suit, attorneys for Warner Brothers and Rowling sent a cease and desist letter to RDR citing two federal court cases where Harry Potter companion books were found to be copyright infringement. RDR did not respond other than to state its own legal counsel was reviewing the situation. In an unexpected turn, RDR sent its own cease and desist letter to Warner Bros. claiming that a timeline appearing on some of the Harry Potter DVDs infringes on the copyrighted content of the Harry Potter Lexicon website maintained by Ark.
While Rowling has endorsed the free web-site, she has objected to the commercial prupose behind the proposed book. Rowling’s has stateed that she intends to publish her own Harry Potter companion book with the proceeds to benefit charity comnsistent with what she has done with two other such companion books.