Like Voldemort, Potter-Lexicon Suit Rises Again

RDR Books, which lost in a copyright lawsuit filed by Warner Bros. and J.K. Rowling against its planned Harry Potter Lexicon book, has filed a notice of appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. (Hat tip: Slashdot, Ray Beckerman; coverage: Stanford’s Copyright & Fair Use blog, P2PNet; list of documents [...]

Brave New World of Digital Intimacy

Several acquaintances have mentioned, or e-mailed, or (appropriately enough) posted on Facebook this New York Times Magazine article from Sunday about Facebook, Twitter, and “ambient awareness.” A lot of it will be fairly old news to many readers here, and ground that I am sure will be covered more completely by John Palfrey and [...]

Rowling 1, Lexicon 0

J.K. Rowling has won her copyright lawsuit against RDR Books, the (now former) publisher of the Harry Potter Lexicon book. The decision is 68 pages long and is available courtesy of the Wall Street Journal. I thought Rowling would, and should, win, but I’m not impressed by the court’s reasoning, especially on the key question [...]

There Goes My Summer Home

The New York state legislature passed, and Governor David Patterson signed, a bill dealing with textbook pricing (the Textbook Access Act) that incidentally bans faculty members from selling “complimentary” copies of textbooks. This sounded bad at first, because I’ve got a nice little side business on eBay with the books I randomly receive for courses [...]

Harry Potter and the Lexicon of Fair Use

No, it’s not the eighth installment of the Rowling series - rather, it’s the latest installment of the ongoing legal fistfight over RDR Books and Steven Vander Ark’s attempt to publish a book version of the on-line guide to the Harry Potter wizarding world. (I posted briefly on this earlier, when I was annoyed by [...]

NYT Fouls Up Fair Use

I start most mornings, especially on weekends, by reading the New York Times. In my household, I get made fun of for reading the Business section first (that’s where the tech stories reside). Sometimes that can be a bad idea, like today, when I read the story on the Harry Potter lawsuit and began yelling [...]

Good Artists Copy, Great Artists Steal

When is it acceptable, and legal, to copy someone else’s photo, or recipe?
Borrowing from Larry Lessig, there are three constraints on copying: social disapprobation (norms), technological impediments (code), and fears of copyright infringement liability (law). We see two case studies in today’s Washington Post and New York Times. First, Missy Chase Lapine has sued Jessica [...]

Book Review: The Nine

I just finished Jeffrey Toobin’s popular new book, The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court. Overall I’d give it a positive review. Toobin has some interesting insights into the Big Picture of the successes and failures of conservatives under the Rehnquist Court (and the beginning of the Roberts Court), lots [...]

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