Filed under: Law, Time Warner (TWX), Books

U.S. District Judge Robert P. Patterson has ruled Steven Vander Ark’s “Harry Potter Lexicon” website and proposed book infringe on copyrights held by author J.K. Rowling, and awarded Rowling and Warner Bros. — a division of Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) — $6,750 in statutory damages. Given that Rowling earned an estimated $300 million last year, it’s doubtful she was in this one for the money.

While authors are generally allowed to use material from other books in reference titles, the judge ruled that this case went beyond fair use because it “appropriates too much of Rowling’s creative work for its purposes as a reference guide.”

Rowling had testified that the pending release of the guide had caused her great stress and interfered with her work on a new novel.

The hp-lexicon.org site has already been taken down. It’s a little bit disenchanting to see Ms. Rowling suing a former school librarian for producing a work that is clearly designed to appeal to die-hard Harry Potter fans, but she’s certainly within her rights.

Rowling’s latest book, The Tales of Beedle the Bard, will be released on December 4.

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