Harry Potter Lexicon Infringes Copyrights of Author J. K. Rowling and Warner Bros.

Holding:

In a dispute regarding the world-renowned "Harry Potter" book and film series, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled that a planned publication of an encyclopedia about these works infringed the copyrights of author J. K. Rowling and Time-Warner, Inc. unit Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc. The suit alleged that defendant RDR Books ("RDR") sought to publish a print edition of the Harry Potter Lexicon ("Lexicon"), a website that provided a compendium of all things related to the series, and that such publication would take away the future market for a similar compendium that Rowling plans to write. Defendant raised the defense of fair use, but the District Court rejected this argument. Citing a substantial amount of verbatim copying, the District Court found that the Lexicon appropriated too much of Rowling's creative work for its purposes as a reference guide. Finding that publication of the Lexicon would cause irreparable harm to the sales of Rowling’s companion books, the District Court issued permanent injunction to Plaintiffs. The District Court likewise granted Plaintiffs' request for statutory damages. Since the Lexicon had not been published and thus Plaintiffs have suffered no harm beyond the fact of infringement, the District Court awarded Plaintiffs the minimum award under the statute for each work with respect to which Plaintiffs have established infringement. Plaintiffs were entitled to statutory damages of $750.00 for each of the seven Harry Potter novels and each of the two companion books, for a total of $6,750.00.

Detailed Summary:

Plaintiffs Warner Bros. and Rowling commenced this action against Defendant RDR Books, alleging copyright infringement pursuant to 17 U.S.C. §§ 101 et seq., among others, and seeking both injunctive relief and damages. On the other hand, RDR pursued defenses and affirmative defenses of copyright fair use under 17 U.S.C. § 107.

By way of background, Plaintiff Rowling is the author of the highly acclaimed Harry Potter book series. Opinion, p. 2, citing Tr. (Rowling) at 43:6-7, 47:17-20; Pl. Ex. 25 (Rowling Decl.) at ¶1. Written for children but enjoyed by children and adults alike, the Harry Potter series chronicles the lives…

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