[WikiEN-l] Plot Element Copyright

[Gwern Branwen]

On 2008.09.20 14:27:29 -0400, WJhonson at aol.com scribbled 0.6K characters:
> Phil (and others).  Wasn't there a case recently where a guy made an
> "Encyclopedia" of the Harry Potter universe ?
> And then Rowling sued him?  Or something like that.  I vaguely  remember it.
> Will

Yes, the case recently ended. I read the judge's decision. It was interesting, but more or less irrelevant to Wikipedia: Vanderark was fined the statutory minimum, and he only got that much because he quoted quite a bit from Rowling, and didn't even quote a lot of his quoting. Further, the judge was less than impressed by how much context and analysis he did. Further aggravating factors were the commercial nature of the encyclopedia, missteps in promotion of it, and less than good-est faith on their part.

So if anyone is seriously worried that we, or the Harry Potter Wikia, might be next - that's just copyright paranoia. Neither meet the judge's points in multiple ways.

--
gwern
ICE K3 Magazine Templar CRA 669 covert UOP 737 terrorism
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