ALA Conference 2009: From the Harry Potter Case to the Right to Write Fund

ALA 2009: Copyright ruling spawns revamped book, new support for derivative works

Norman Oder -- Library Journal, 7/22/2009

• Potter Lexicon revamped and reissued
• ALA said it was a victory for fair use
• New organization will defend writers

While a court last year blocked school librarian Steven Vander Ark and RDR Books from their attempt to publish a book version of Vander Ark’s online lexicon to the Harry Potter series, that work was revamped and issued in January as The Lexicon,  as LJ reported. The larger story, however, was that fair use actually prevailed, and that the lawsuit spawned a new organization aimed to defend writers from similar lawsuits.

RDR publisher Roger Rapoport, speaking at a Washington Office update at the American Library Association annual conference on July 11, described the Right to Write Fund, which he heads, as working closely with ALA. The organization “has been created so no one else has to go through what my company went through,” he said suggesting that the Copyright Act passed in 1976 spawned a new industry of lawyers that challenge reference books.

The fund aims to answer questions from writers and librarians, providing advice an assistance. Stanford Law School, along with Harvard Law School, have trained pro bono lawyers; Stanford has found an insurance company that will write a policy—say, for a documentary film—as long as a lawyer associated with the fund has reviewed the project. The fund also will provide litigation support.

Reflections on Harry Potter
“Most people think we lost the case,” Rapoport said, pointing to the larger meaning of the ruling, as expressed in an article for ALA and the Association of Research Libraries by attorney Jonathan Band, titled “How Fair Use Prevailed in the Harry Potter Case."

While author J.K. Rowling prevailed, the decision was based on specific facts unique to the case, such as lengthy verbatim copies of descriptions in the novels, and the addition of two short companion books Rowling wrote. 

So federal Judge Robert Patterson’s decision left “ample room for the creation of reference guides to literary works,” Band wrote, suggesting that “The decision also provides a clear roadmap for how to avoid infringement claims.”

That, said Rapoport, is what Vander Ark and RDR did. “The author added 600 original commentaries,” Rapoport said, adding, “We benefited enormously from the fact that a lot of people in the library community and media realized that there was something wrong about trying to stop a reference book.”

And the book has value, he reported; those shooting the latest Harry Potter movie, he said, were checking Vander Ark’s web site daily for fact-checking.