May 2003
Harry Potter's Invisible Adversary - or
Why Stealing J K Rowling's Ideas Won't Work
It appears that J K Rowling is suffering yet another attack on her intellectual property rights (see previous articles for other misdemeanours). Various newspapers have owned up to having been offered chapters of the new fifth Harry Potter book due to be released next month. The mystery supplier of these chapters remains anonymous however was asking substantial amounts of money for the preview.
Publishers of the book, Bloomsbury, and J K Rowling herself went to the High Court in order to obtain a without notice injunction against the perpetrator. The situation was somewhat bizarre in that the Claimant's did not really know who they were seeking the injunction against. The judge agreed that this would be permissible on the grounds that from the sales of the previous four books in the series it was reasonable to suggest that severe damage and loss would be suffered if the chapters were permitted to be printed. It was also likely that the unnamed individual obtained the chapters by theft since the book was printed under great secrecy.
Judge Laddie held that the individual would be aware that what he was attempting is wrong and that he is infringing someone's rights therefore the injunction would be granted and that even if the claimants could not serve it on the individual in question it would also be valid against those whom he tried to sell the material to i.e. the newspapers.
BRIFFA Comment:
Although this situation is undoubtedly unusual this case highlights one of the many remedies available to anyone suffering an infringement of their intellectual property rights. Without notice injunctions are one of the most dramatic forms of remedy however do have the advantage of ensuring that the offender is caught unawares and won't be able to dispose of evidence or funds.