On Saturday, April 3, 2010, the Arts, Communications, Entertainment & Sports (“ACES”) Law Section of the State Bar of Michigan is co-hosting with the Right to Write Fund, in association with the Stanford Fair Use Project and Grand Valley State University, a lecture on copyright law basics for writers followed by a panel discussion on the recent fair use case Rowling v. RDR Books. Joining the panel discussion will be Rodger Rapport, owner of RDR Books, and Julie Ahrens, Assistant Director of the Stanford Fair Use Project. The program will run from approximately 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the DeVos Center, 401 West Fulton, Lecture Hall GV, Grand Rapids, MI 49504.
The Seminar will provide information and materials for Michigan writers on important issues of copyright law, fair use, and the first amendment. More details concerning the event, including the cost to participants, will be forthcoming. Stay tuned for details.
If you are interested in attending, please RSVP to me, Matthew Bower, at mbower@saffordbaker.com
About Rowling v. RDR Books
Muskegon publisher Roger Rapoport, owner of RDR Books, and writer Steve Vander Ark, founder of the fansite called The Harry Potter Lexicon, became embroiled in a copyright battle with J.K. Rowling, author of the hugely popular Harry Potter books, and Warner Bros., producers of the hit Potter films. When the two Michigan natives sought to publish a book version of the Lexicon website (a reference guide for all things Potter), Rowling and Warner Bros. claimed that publication would constitute copyright infringement. RDR Books claimed the right to publish the Lexicon under the fair use doctrine.
The case began in October 2007, when Warner Bros and Rowling filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York to block the Lexicon’s publication. On November 8, 2007, Judge Robert B. Patterson Jr. issued a temporary restraining order, voluntarily entered into by both parties, delaying RDR’s publication of the book. Anthony Falzone and Julie Ahrens of the Stanford Fair Use Project join RDR’s trial team.
In September 2008, the court ruled in Rowling’s favor, and publication of the book was blocked. In his opinion, Judge Patterson claimed that “because the Lexicon appropriates too much of Rowling’s creative work for its purposes as a reference guide, a permanent injunction must issue to prevent the possible proliferation of works that do the same and thus deplete the incentive for original authors to create new works.” Judge Patterson awarded the plaintiffs less than $7,000 in damages for infringement; the minimum amount possible.
Although RDR lost the case, it may have won the larger war. In deciding the case, Judge Patterson concluded that reference guides in general, including the Lexicon, are transformative in nature and capable of fair use protection, and that the Lexicon could be published with less appropriation from the original works. On January 16, 2009, RDR Books did just that; releasing another unauthorized Harry Potter guide (The Lexicon: An Unauthorized Guide to Harry Potter Fiction and Related Materials), which include far more commentary than the original.
About the Fair Use Project
The Stanford Center for Internet and Society’s Fair Use Project (the “Project”) was founded in 2006. Its purpose is to provide legal support to a range of projects designed to clarify and extend the boundaries of “fair use” in order to enhance creative freedom. The Project represents filmmakers, musicians, artists, writers, scholars, and other content creators in a range of disputes that raise important questions concerning fair use and the limits of intellectual property rights. In doing so, it relies on a network of talented lawyers within the Center for Internet and Society, as well as attorneys in law firms and public interest organizations who are dedicated to advancing the mission of the Project.
Julie A. Ahrens is associate director of Stanford Law School’s Fair Use Project, where she represents writers, filmmakers, musicians, and others who rely on fair use in creating their art, documentaries, scholarship, critiques, or comments. Before joining Stanford, Ahrens was a litigation attorney in the San Francisco office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP.
About the Right to Write Fund
The Right to Write Fund is formed to be an educational repository and clearinghouse for the 21st century freedom of expression and “fair use” issues writers and publishers encounter when moving between the worlds of print, internet, film, the fine arts and new media. The Fund will collect and disseminate legal briefs, facts and analyses as well as literary and media accounts of copyright, trademark and other intellectual property statutes in order to define first amendment rights in a technological age. The Fund will promulgate and protect the democratic values of our founding fathers – free speech, the freedom to write, fairness, openness and honesty – while establishing the ground rules for future artistic expression.
About the ACES Law Section of the State Bar
For thirty years the Arts, Communications, Entertainment & Sports Law Section and its members have helped thousands of artists and entertainers by participating in and supporting the cultural organizations and activities of the arts, communications, entertainment and sports industries of Michigan. ACES supports these industries through partnerships, seminars, public service programs, advocacy, and publications, as well as through fostering and developing the professional skills and knowledge of its members. Membership in the ACES is open to all members of the State Bar of Michigan.
–Matt
This notice is a little late in coming (and didn’t make it into our 
