Fans on Trial! Phleghm at 11!

Fans on Trial! Phleghm at 11!

Apr 14

First, it was Lucasfilm laying the legal smack down on a rogue element in the UK churning out plastic Stormtrooper outfits.

Now another ginormous figure in modern geek entertainment, J.K. Rowling, is taking a fan to court over sticky copyright wickets.

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

The Rowling case is more interesting and “grey” than the Lucas case, frankly.

I don’t personally agree with how Lucas is handling the Stormtrooper situation, for a number of reasons; as I noted in my original post, seems Lucas could do a better job of stamping out the production of fan-made Stormtrooper costumes as a commercial enterprise by putting out better-made, maybe even cheaper costumes himself. This is an ever-growing segment of Star Wars fandom, one that Lucas himself has almost quasi-endorsed by having no qualms about turning up at any number of events flanked by fans in Stormtrooper costumes. Shit, here he is with a big fat chunk of the 501st, at the Tournament of Roses parade in Pasadena.

The whole thing’s just kinda…sloppy. Yet Lucas seems to have far more legitimate ground to stand upon; the original designer of the Stormtrooper helmets seems to be trying to exploit a minor loophole in the copyright on the design (more than thirty years ago) to somehow prove that he actually owns the design. Riiiight.

Rowling, on the other hand, is tangled in a more icky web–basically, as I understand it, she is suing a publisher for putting out a book that interprets and organizes her own work, based on the fact that it may fall outside “fair use” estimations. Again, Rowling hasn’t helped by admitting in the past that she herself has used this very site for research on her own books. But it doesn’t seem as though it’s a minor publishing outfit seeking to do their reprint of the Harry Potter books or something–there must be some acceptable limit on what’s reasonable for an independent publisher to produce when analyzing vast works of major cultural significance.

Rowling and her lawyers are trying to cast aspersions on the publisher for not even making reasonable changes to create a more acceptable volume. Based on my knee-jerk, that refusal seems like something a tiny publisher would do were its latest publication suddenly thrust into the international spotlight–they’ve got copyright in play, so they’ve got plenty of righteous attorneys willing to help out, and if they win, it’s payday, baby.

At any rate, the Rowling case has potential trickle-down impact on fandom–Rowling isn’t kidding when she says,

Such a position penalizes copyright owners like me for encouraging and supporting the activities of their respective fan communities. If RDR’s position is accepted, it will undoubtedly have a significant, negative impact on the freedoms enjoyed by genuine fans on the internet. Authors everywhere will be forced to protect their creations much more rigorously, which could mean denying well-meaning fans permission to pursue legitimate creative activities.

Some more good reading: A fantasy book reviewer chimes in, The Leaky Cauldron does their thorough round-up, and details on a few past relevant cases.

This is especially sad because unlike Lucas, who has played the role of distant yet mildly approving grandfather to Star Wars fandom, Rowling has taken more of a leap-in-with-both-feet approach, hosting the operators of two major fan sites on a couple of separate occasions (that I know of) for personal one-on-one reviews in the UK.

Anyway, interesting times. Part of me’s cheering for Rowling, because I think she’s got a pretty good point all around, but part of me’s hoping she loses massively. In the age of the internet and the mashup and getting Sweded, the last thing we need is a big fat bullet in the lower abdomen of Fair Use.