JK Rowling is listed #48 for the Forbes richest people in the US. She filed a lawsuit for $50,000 against Indian organizers who were building a replica castle to celebrate some festival there. What is she going to do next? File lawsuits against parents in the US who hold Harry Potter themed birthday parties?? I didn't know she had a copyright for a Hogwarts castle blueprint, or Hogwarts in general. It's absurd that she feels she needs to sue a non-profit festival, just to get a bit more $$ in her money grubbing pocket.
2007-10-11 18:04:43 · 17 answers · asked by sephrem99 3 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Books & Authors
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071011/ennew_afp/entertainmentindialiteraturepottercourtreligion_071011142707 <
2007-10-11
19:48:20 ·
update #1
HM, I didn't hear about that, but yeah, it's definitely absurd to me the more I think about it... but whether or not it's cheap... I don't know.
--ok, after checking the article::
I'm a big fan of Harry Potter, but this is kind of ridiculous to me. It doesn't change my opinion on JK Rowling however.
Truthfully though, I don't see how she can sue someone who is making a replica of a fictional castle...when they are using their own materials. Does she own the copyright of the layout of the place or what? How could it be 100% accurate?
Sheesh, It’s not like they are writing her entire novel on the wall so that people don’t have to pay for the books. You can't sue someone for naming their kid "Harry Potter" or their dog "Dobby"... and I don't think if CS Lewis was alive he could sue someone for making their backyard look like Narnia could he?
This is kind of strange, I don't know how she even has a case on this.
2007-10-11 18:08:08 · answer #1 · answered by Sara ♈ 4 · 2⤊ 2⤋
What money grubbing pocket. Rowling has a copyright, and Hogwarts is a part of that copyright. Most parent's throwing Harry Potter themed birthday parties are likely to go out and purchase all the Harry Potter party merchandise, which is going to be covered by the copyright and thus by purchasing the material they are paying royalties for the chance to use Harry Potter for their children.
Had the organizers approached Rowling and asked permission first to do so, things would have been different. But we are not getting the full story here.
2007-10-11 18:33:31 · answer #2 · answered by knight1192a 7 · 4⤊ 0⤋
...And despite the fact that there may be "no commercial motives"... puh-leeze, like droves of people aren't going to want to go see a real-life "Hogwarts"? I don't think it's absurd. It would be absurd if she sued a high school student who made a toothpick replica of Hogwarts for a an art project or something, but this undertaking in India is just too much. Even if there are no commercial motivations, per se, the fact that they are "using" Harry Potter to bring people to their festival or whatever is ultimately going to have some financial impact at the end of the day. They wouldn't have chosen it as a theme if they didn't think it would be wildly popular.
2007-10-11 20:17:56 · answer #3 · answered by Who's That Girl? 6 · 3⤊ 1⤋
I am writing from Calcutta (alias Kolkata) where the festival in question is being organized. Literally hundreds of pavillions are built in the city to celebrate this religious festival. Quite frequently a pavillion is built around a particular theme. Construction is funded through community donations and corporate sponsorships and the organizers do not stand to gain commercially. However the organizers do try to outdo one another and prizes are awarded for best themed pavillions.
I do hope that J K Rowlings is not personally responsible for this lawsuit as it is patently absurd. The point is that the replica castle does not in any way affect the sale of Harry Potter books and merchandise. Indeed it may provide J K Rowling some free publicity in India and I suspect that the corporate entities who profit from Rowling's genius have filed this lawsuit precisely for the sake of additional publicity .
2007-10-11 23:19:52 · answer #4 · answered by Octopus 1 · 1⤊ 3⤋
I don't think she is greedy. She has created a world through her books, and is entitled to make sure that others do not profit from her imagination with out due compensation.
Even if this festival is non-profit, she has to make sure that the organizers do not sell the marquee to someone who could use it to make money from it.
My guess is that the money will be just leverage to make the organizers deal with her and Bloomsbury. I wouldn't be surprised if the resolution won't be something like an official acknowledgment that the marquee is take from her work, is used with her permission and an understanding that it will be totally destroyed afterwards.
wl
2007-10-12 03:03:54 · answer #5 · answered by WolverLini 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
She is just protecting her copyright. There is a big difference between a festival being organized to make money and a birthday party. The amount of money being pursued is pretty minimal really and mostly just to make a point so people don't think they can do Harry Potter themed things anytime they want to help them make money. If she really wanted to she could probably sue them for a lot more than the $50,000 that is being asked for.
2007-10-11 18:17:14 · answer #6 · answered by KL 5 · 6⤊ 2⤋
as quickly as I study the object, my first question replaced into this: why are they development a replica of Hogwarts and the enormous for a non secular ceremony? i assume i replaced into extremely at a loss for words related to the enormous: are they attempting to touch the souls of the human beings who lost their lives in 1912, or are they simply followers of James Cameron? And in the event that they're followers of James Cameron, why not build a replica of an alien from "extraterrestrial beings" rather? yet i did not think of JK Rowling sounded grasping; I only assumed that she wasn't the only one in contact contained in the suing. besides the actuality that... it may be effective if she, say, donated that money to help a suffering author or 2 for awhile.
2016-10-06 13:12:31 · answer #7 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Here's the article from The Scotsman newspaper http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1629072007 -
"Rowling sues festival over use of Hogwarts
TAMAJIT PAIN
IN CALCUTTA
A COMMUNITY group in India is being sued by JK Rowling for breach of copyright after it recreated Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for a religious festival.
The group is accused of erecting a huge structure in the shape of the fictional building, where Harry Potter learns magic.
Lawyers representing the Edinburgh-based author and Warner Brothers, who hold the rights in India, yesterday confirmed a petition had been filed in the Delhi High Court but refused to comment further.
Organisers said a mock steam train was also being constructed next to the set, which is intended to resemble the Hogwarts Express, as part of the Hindu festival of the Goddess Durga. It celebrates her killing a demon and the victory of good over evil.
A statue of the ten-armed goddess sitting on a lion, stabbing a demon emerging from a buffalo, dominates the set, and organisers planned to include life-sized models of Harry Potter and his companions.
"We had no clue that we had to seek permission from the author," said Santanu Biswas, secretary of FD Block Puja Committee of Salt Lake, the group which designed and paid for artists to make the tent.
"We did not have any commercial motive behind this. The immense popularity of Harry Potter prompted us to choose this as a theme."
The structure is expected to cost about £15,000.
The four-day Durga Puja festival, which begins on 17 October, is the biggest Hindu festival in east India. In Calcutta alone, more than 10,000 pandals - elaborately crafted temporary structures in various themes - are set up to venerate the goddess.
Organisers said they would dismantle the Harry Potter-themed structure if Rowling's lawyers were "not satisfied".
Warner Brothers is seeking about £25,000 in compensation for alleged infringement."
It sounds to me that the driving forces are really Warner Brothers and J.K. Rowlings' lawyers/law firm. I guess they have a right to do it, but 25,000 pounds?!? Methinks they go too far...
2007-10-11 19:54:20 · answer #8 · answered by ck1 7 · 1⤊ 3⤋
it could actually be her publishers and/or Warner Brothers that is suing. it seems very out of character for her. i mean the woman has more money than the Queen! and i've never pictured her to be a money grubber to begin with.
check her website sometime in the next few days. she udgates pretty often and i'm sure there will be an explanation on there about this sometime soon.
http://www.jkrowling.com
2007-10-11 21:45:07 · answer #9 · answered by ♥ it's katie 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
It is probably under the advisement of her business lawyer. She is probably not even involved. Harry Potter is a buisiness, so the CEO/lawyer types are thinking it would be bad for business to allow use of the Harry Potter idea.
2007-10-11 18:10:14 · answer #10 · answered by suigeneris-impetus 6 · 5⤊ 2⤋