Document Design: "Harry Potter" Author Wins Copyright Claim

J.K Rowling, author of Harry Potter

(Source: etonline.com)

The librarian, Steven Jan Vander Ark, who has the face of a schoolboy and resembles Harry Potter, was trying to publish “The Harry Potter Lexicon” but J.K Rowling and Warner Brothers Entertainment, the company that produces the “Harry Potter” movies, sued, citing copyright infringement.(CBS News 2008)

According to US copyright law (2008), the term “copyright” refers to a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States. Anyone may copy ideas contained within a work but not copying the actual works, which original work of authorship including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works. So, J.K Rowling was right to defends her rights.

Steven Vander ark insisted that he plan to do is not going to violate her copyright act seeing what Vander Ark is trying to do is use the Harry Potter world as a reference to explain about the complicated world of Harry Potter. He said it was decided that the lexicon would include sections from the Lexicon Web site that give descriptions and commentary on individual names, places, spells and creatures from Harry Potter stories.To protect himself, Vander Ark insisted that RDR Books include a clause in his contract that the publisher would defend and pay any damages that might result from claims against him. In my opinion, in order to copyright infringement, it is necessary to divine the purpose and character of the use which the work must be transformative.

However, Reep (2006) pointed out that “it is illegal to violate the creator’s copyright by using these works for your own benefit without getting permission and paying the appropriate fees”. Thus, the outcome of this copyright battle is clearly that Steven Vander Ark did was certainly a copy right violation.