Pending before the United States District Court for the Southern District Court is a headline-making copyright infringement suit brought by legendary childrens book author J.K. Rowling against the author and publisher of an encyclopedia of Harry Potter terminology - Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. v. RDR Books, 07-cv-09667 (S.D.N.Y.). The case tests the outer boundaries of the fair use doctrine, which permits the use of copyrighted materials "for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship or research." As noted by The Wall Street Journal, "an element of historic moment . . . hovers over this verdict."
In this 60-minute webcast, West Legalworks presents the perspective of Kerry L. Konrad -- an experienced intellectual property litigator and co-head of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLPs transactional intellectual property practice on the ramifications of the J.K. Rowling case. Issues to be discussed include:
- When is a work transformative, rather than merely derivative, under the copyright laws?
- What are the limits on the amount of copyrightable material that can be used under the fair use doctrine?
- When is a work considered a direct substitute for purposes of the fair use doctrine?
- What role does potential financial harm play in evaluating "fair use" cases?
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