Book People Archive

copyright and Harry Potter online

We have been talking about copyright, and now it
is time to drag in Harry Potter.

I refer you to an article in "Entertainment-Rewired," at
http://www.entertainment-rewired.com/fan_apology.htm
which details Warner Bros.'s assault on fan web sites
put up by teen-age readers of the Harry Potter books.

Note there is no question of copyright infringement here.
The Warner Bros. lawyers simply demand that the fans
transfer the site domain names to Warner Bros. so that the
publisher has full control over all 'intellectual property.'
Fans such as Claire Field evidently wish simply to use 
computers to add value to the works they have purchased, 
by donating their own creative efforts to the public on 
the web.  As her solicitor's letter points out, her 
actions are in no way illegal (though the publisher
wishes to characterize them as such).  Even trademark
infringement is not accurate here--the web site is
non-commercial and there is no confusion over its source.

It is correct that Harry Potter books were quickly pirated
and distributed in alt.binary newsgroups on Usenet.  However,
this situation has not apparently stopped Warner Bros. and
J. K. Rowling from making millions of dollars (pounds) from 
the works and their derivatives.  In fact, it might be
proposed that the widespread copying and distribution of
the works made even more money for the publishers, who
had for purposes of publicity artificially engendered
a situation of scarcity on initial publication.  

(The situation is the same with Microsoft software in
China, massively duplicated without authorization.
Apparently Microsoft will tolerate this situation, so
as not to encourage users to turn to the free GNU/Linux
or other operating systems; Microsoft wishes to establish
market dominance, looking forward to the time when they
will be able to charge users.  Computers and the Internet
make it possible to establish a monopoly position very
quickly, by means of 'network effects'--this is more
important than short-term profit--'strong intellectual
property rights' cement the monopoly, eventually, and
will be established by means of trade negotiations--even
though China has no history of the individual rights that
are the entire basis for copyright law.)
 
I believe the correct response to this situation is that
http://www.potterwar.org.uk/
has initiated, a boycott of Harry Potter merchandise.
             
I would encourage those of us who wish to use computers
and the Internet to promote literature and literacy not
to get sucked into these commercial enterprises.  Copying
and distributing these copyrighted works will not in
any sense make 'information free.'  It only increases
the dependency of all us on these giant global media 
corporations for our popular culture.  Instead, let us
promote the public domain and our own ownership of our
culture, and fight in every way the corporations that
wish to dominate it by 'strong intellectual property
rights' and excessive control.

-- 
nom:"Eric"  Eric Eldred  Eldritch Press
mailto:Eldred@[redacted]
vCard3.0:http://www.eldritchpress.org/EricEldred.vcf