Rowling v. RDR Books [1]

J.K. Rowling, the author of the successful Harry Potter books and films, and Warner Brothers, which produces and markets Harry Potter movies and products, filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against book publisher RDR Books in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Rowlings and Warner Brothers seek an injunction barring RDR Books from publishing The Harry Potter Lexicon, the print counterpart of the Harry Potter fan website, www.hp-lexicon.com [2]. The website contains information on "the series’ characters, places, animals, magic spells, and potions along with atlases, timelines, and analyses of magical theory," according to a press release [3] issued by Stanford Law School's Fair Use Project, which is acting a co-counsel to RDR Books in the case.

Rowling and Warner Brothers argue that the book, which had been scheduled to be released November 28, 2007, misappropriates elements of Rowling's imaginary world and otherwise violates the plaintiffs' copyright and trademark rights in the books, movies, and related products. RDR argues that it has the right to publish the Lexicon under the fair use doctrine, which is a defense to copyright infringement that permits the use of a copyrighted work without the copyright owner's permission for limited and "transformative" uses that do not damage the market for the original work.

On November 8, 2007, the court issued a temporary restraining order delaying RDR's publication of the book. Both parties agreed to the entry of this order, pending a hearing on a preliminary injunction scheduled for February 6, 2008.

Update:

The court decided to combine the preliminary injunction hearing with a trial on the merits, which is scheduled to begin April 14, 2008.

4/16/2008 - The trial ended, and the court took the matter under advisement.

9/8/2008 - Judge Patterson issued a decision [4] finding the defendants liable for copyright infringement; judge issued permanent injunction and $6,750 in statutory damages.

12/4/08 - RDR Books dismissed its appeal and announced that it will publish a revised version of The Lexicon on on January 12, 2009.  Mr. Vander Ark substantially rewrote the book in an effort to bring it in line with Judge Patterson's decision.  J.K. Rowling's agents issued the following statement [5]:

We are delighted that this matter is finally and favourably resolved and that J.K. Rowling's rights  -- and indeed the rights of all authors of creative works -- have been protected.  We are also pleased to hear that rather than continue to litigate, RDR have themselves decided to publish a different book prepared with reference to Judge Patterson's decision.