Warner Brothers: "Houston, we've got a problem"

The front page of the Wall Street Journal has it. Greg and Penny of HP Progs have this video up on YouTube that's hit Prime Time:



The LeakyMug gang have this one up:



And there are many, many more. Many, many more (see below). Just sort have to wonder what's going on in TimeWarner land these late summer days. Yo, WB - hey, how's that stock price doing, guys?

Take Two

Court issues very narrow ruling on the fair use in print (not the internet) of Harry Potter

Internet fan sites remain untouched by ruling. You can lift it on the internet, but not for profit in print, especially when the author says she's going to do it herself. A win for all.

It looks like the court took a pass at establishing precedent through the lawsuit initiated by Warner Brothers (with Jo Rowling along for the ride) to force the print version of the HP Lexicon out of fans hands and back into Jo's head.

Now she's got to write it herself - hope that all wasn't just a publicity stunt and she's really working on it. The lack of any punitive damages also shows that the judge deemed it a bit over-kill (Warner Brothers does not get its precedent-setting ruling regarding trademarking the words) plus the fact that the book never got out of the printer's office. The judge ruled that Jo Rowling is still alive and able to produce an encyclopedia herself and had declared to the world that she's going to do it instead.

At first blush, it looks to be the best of all worlds. Jo gets to write her own book (which we will look forward to read - perhaps she can pop it out before the film next summer?), the Lexicon stays online, no punitive judgment is invoked, fan sites will not worry about threats made against them by WB if it went bad for them, and the ruling is so narrow it does not appear to set precedent.

If Steve Vander Ark were to write a commentary on the books - and I wish he would - that would be fair use. My favorite part of Pottercast (until it all got rather silly of late and insider-ish) was Canon Conundrums with Steve. He knew it all and he knew the mysteries and he knew how to take it to a deeper level, an adult level and out of the fan-squee. I for one would love to read his commentaries on the books. The judge encouraged that in his ruling. Frankly, I think it would be better book.

Next step: Reconciliation? If Draco and Harry can find a truce, well, perhaps the parties in this litigation can as well. In time.

The lack of punitive damages invoked by the judge shows that he seeks to aid in the restoration of relationships as well. And Warner Brothers is out a pretty penny in legal fees. Boo hoo hoo.

Here's what the Wall Street Journal, which has done a very good job following the litigation, writes:

The suit, filed late last year against RDR Books, an independent publishing house in Michigan, alleged that plans by Michigan-based publisher RDR to publish a print edition of the Harry Potter Lexicon, a Web site that serves as a rather daunting compendium of all things Harry, violated Warner and Rowling’s copyright and takes away the future market for a similar compendium that Rowling plans to write.

Here’s the opinion.

Judge Patterson ruled in Rowling’s favor because the “Lexicon appropriates too much of Rowling’s creative work for its purposes as a reference guide.” He also wrote that, “While the Lexicon, in its current state, is not a fair use of the Harry Potter works, reference works that share the Lexicon’s purpose of aiding readers of literature generally should be encouraged rather than stifled.”

Ethan Horwitz, an IP lawyer at King & Spalding, told the Law Blog: “What Judge Patterson is saying is that when you look at fair use, one of the dominant issues is, are you providing commentary or taking the value of the work and selling it as your own? He decided that the value of the work was being taken, that [Rowling] had the ability to put out the kind of encyclopedia that [Vander Ark] was putting out, and that she’d indicated an intent to do so.”

O’Melveny’s Dale Cendali repped Rowling and Warner Bros.

David Hammer, a solo practitioner in Manhattan, took the lead for RDR. He got help from Stanford Law School’s Anthony Falzone — a former Bingham McCutcheon litigator and the heir apparent to Lawrence Lessig’s Fair Use Project and Lizbeth Hasse, of San Francisco’s Creative Industry Law Group.

There is still something very sad about all this. Good night, Severus.

Half Blood Prince Test Previw in Chicago

UPDATE: Here's another updated report here. And here's another one here. And a another one from the Mighty Mugglenet here.

Leaky has the scoop here. Warner Brothers continues on schedule - all the pre-film publicity continues and the test screenings remain on schedule. Read the report here. And pass the spearmint toothpaste.

UPDATE: Another report is now up at IMDb here.

Evanesco! Harry Potter Lexicon Disappears!

Went to look up a fact at the HP Lexicon and what do I find?

IT'S GONE!

After I shook myself out of a moment of shock - who knew I cared so much? - I went looking for it. Finally, went over to Wiki to see if anything had developed of late and sure enough, Wiki explains, "The Lexicon was suddenly unavailable for a few days beginning August 30th, 2008, after a technical error with the domain. The site was still accessible via the IP address 69.61.53.28 however."

We did go to the IP address and found it (whew!), but today the actually url is still down and some of the Lexicon links don't work. Our first thought was that the domain expired - and someone snatched it up (happened to my home parish and then the domain is held for ransom).

Still, the HP Lexicon page is up but it doesn't work, it looks like it was wiped. It's all rather strange. Wonder what the "technical error with the domain" means? An unpaid bill - or a legal problem?

Steve, where are you?

The corporations that have been pursuing fair use on the internet have been threatening to go after the domain hosts. So it's hard not to wonder if the "technical error" is a mechancial, financial, or legal one? The fact that the page is sitting there with missing information is strange, but the IP address is up and running, so perhaps it is a programing SNAFU. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt. It's a geek's primordial sin. It's how we learn.

Of course, we're still waiting for a court ruling on the book-version of the Lexicon and Warner Brothers appears to be a foul mood (there is still no credible explanation why they pulled the sixth film in November to wait basically another year before release - to make more money is a public relations disaster and we still guess that the lawyers had something to do with it).

The Lexicon site is not yet restored, but many/most of the pages are available for viewing at the IP address here.

And so we continue to wait - and see.

Public Relations Disaster for Warner Brothers: Harry Potter film postponed for a year

Warner Brothers announced today that it is postponing the release Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince for another year. Here it is August 2008 and the film will not be released until July 2009. It was slated to open in three months. Just who exactly made this decision? Is it this kind of decision-making that is causing the stocks for TimeWarner to tank?

The film is all done and ready to go - but Warner Brothers thinks it can squeeze even more money out of the fans. Perhaps they should think again.

The news has hit the papers and it's not going well, not well at all. Fans are up in arms over the news - some thinking it's an early (or late) April Fools Joke. But no - while Time Warner stock continues to plummet, bad strategic thinking continues to abound - including that whole business about suing a fan for his book and threatening all the other fans that if that lawsuit doesn't go their way it will be No More Mr. Nice Guy. It does make one wonder what is going on inside corporate headquarters.

And it shows that Warner Brothers has no idea what can happen when fans turn on a studio. Just ask Desilu Studeio what happened when they initially cancelled Star Trek. Oh, that's right. There is no more Desilu.

The outrage that is pouring out over the internet against the studio is unprecedented. What is going wrong at the studio? Who made this decision and are they still employed? And is there no room for reprieve?

Or is it that the new film is really bad? If it's so good - why have it sit on a shelf for a year?

A Pilgrimage to Platform Nine and Three Quarters