Is or can the name Harry potter be copyright protected?

Question

This is from my 12 year old daughter so no cruddy answers please

Answer 1

If Mr.& Mrs. Potter had a son and wanted to call him Harry after his Grandfather they have the right to do so.
An example was when a lady in the north of Scotland called McDonald who had a small restaurant and it was called Mc.Donald was told by the MacDonald's food chain that she was in breach of copyright, she threatened to go to court to establish her right to use the family name, after some discussion between solicitors the claim by MacDonald's was quietly dropped. So in similar circumstances it cannot be considered for copyright. A very interesting question.

Answer 2

I doubt it, after all, I think I've heard that there are people out there whose actual name is Harry Potter. Also, you could probably have another fictional character called Harry Potter without infringing copyright(I think). However, it would definitely be copyright infringement to write about a character who was a wizard called Harry Potter, or a Harry Potter whose friends were Ron, Hermione and Ginny.

Answer 3

Names of products are trademarked, not copyrighted. However, Harry Potter is a name in a creative work of fiction that is copyrighted, and so the character of Harry Potter is copyrighted as well, you couldn't write a book with the same character in it. Additionally we can assume JK Rowling's lawyers have also trademarked it.

Answer 4

Koobie is correct. If someone writes a book with the title, "The Key to Harry Potter," then no one can sue. Also, if some one writes, "Harry Potter, Illinois Farm Boy."

However, if some one writes a sequel with the characters Ron and Hermione, called "Harry Potter Fights the Werewolf Murderer of London," then there can be a lawsuit.

A few years ago, some one tried a knock-off of "Gone with the Wind" with Rhett Butler and Scarlett O'Hara. The author's estate sued. The writer replied that this was legitimate commentary, and she won in court.

Finally, any one can write a book and entitle it, "Introduction to Organic Chemisty." And no one can sue.

Answer 5

No, it cannot be copyrighted as it is a human name and there were plenty of men before the book named Harry Potter, they would be required to request permission to use their own names. The character is copyrighted but the name is not.

Answer 6

I think all the characters Tony mentions are in the public domain because their authors have been dead for more than 50 years. It's not a hard and fast rule because the estates of those authors can take out copyrights too.

I'm not sure of the answer to your question. I suspect that if you mention Harry Potter as background in your book it would not require permission but if you introduced him as a character it would.

Answer 7

Sorry, Glittergal, but not only is it perfectly legal to use someone else's characters in your own book or story, but it's done regularly. Woody Allen years ago wrote a very funny short story with Emma Bovary as the main character, and Mr. Darcy is the protagonist of MR. DARCY TAKES A WIFE and DARCY AND ELIZABETH, both by Linda Berdoll. Helen Halstead used the same characters in her novel MR. DARCY PRESENTS HIS BRIDE. Sena Naslund's bestseller AHAB'S WIFE uses characters from MOBY DICK, and a bunch of authors have used Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes in their modern novels.

Answer 8

i think the Harry Potter name is copyrighted because i head Rowling say that she doesn't want people to continue her story

Answer 9

No i don't thing this can happen in law it is a name you can't copyright my name or no one else could be called it - how many john smiths can there be in a copyrighted world?

Answer 10

Yes, it is. - It's the name of the book and J.K. Rowling has rights to it. J.K. Rowling made it so she has it and is the only one who can use it, unless given permission. Read the beginning of her books(where the copyright and where it was published and all those other stuff is).