Legal News

Day One of the Harry Potter Trial: Rowling Holds Her Own

By Dan Slater

When J.K. Rowling concluded her testimony today in the case of Warner Bros. and Rowling vs. RDR Books, the Law Blog stepped outside at the recess to have a chat with Columbia copyright professor Tim Wu. “She was the definition of a star witness,” he said. “It was hard for [the defense] to get anything out of her.”

As for weaknesses in her testimony, Wu said Rowling might’ve gone too far in claiming that the H.P. Lexicon was useless. Indeed, when Dale Cendali, the O’Melveny attorney representing Rowling and Warner in the case, asked Rowling about her impression of the H.P. Lexicon, she responded: “It’s sloppy and lazy in that it takes work wholesale. And what does it add? Worryingly, given that the excuse is that it’s some kind of reference guide, there are incorrect translations. So even in the loosest sense I do not consider this a worthwhile book.”

When David Hammer, the lead attorney for RDR Books, the putative publisher of the H.P. Lexicon, cross-examined Rowling, he went after her on that point. Hammer attempted to show that other Potter companion books, though they might offer more analysis, are not as “comprehensive” as the H.P. Lexicon, and don’t purport to be complete “encyclopedias” as, he argues, the H.P. Lexicon is. After all, a major point of argument for the defense in this case is whether the value added by organizational guides is enough to qualify a reference guide for fair use.

But when Hammer tried to get Rowling to concede that the H.P. Lexicon is more comprehensive — in that it’s longer — than other books, she shot back: “Is that the best you can say for the Lexicon? That it has text?” She added, “An alphabetical rearrangement is the easiest and laziest way to re-sell my work.”

Another area of questioning concerned how the H.P. Lexicon would affect the market for companion guides.

Toward the end of direct, Cendali asked whether publication of the H.P. Lexicon in book form would discourage Rowling in her own creative work. Rowling replied that if, when she’d been “choosing between food and a typewriter ribbon,” she’d known that anyone could take her words, she’d have been discouraged. Moreover, said Rowling, if the market is flooded with inferior Harry Potter encyclopedias, readers will be “sick to the back of the teeth” with such books. “It’s the reading experience that stands to be endangered here,” she said.

Also taking the stand on Monday: RDR owner Roger Rapoport. Ms. Rowling’s lawyers attempted to show that Mr. Rapoport tried to rush out publication of the Lexicon in time for Christmas of 2007 all the while attempting to hide his publication plans from publishers of the Harry Potter novels.

The trial is slated to continue on Tuesday with defense testimony from a publishing expert.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on April 14, 2008 (boomark / email).