That’s too bad. Canadian publication law does consider posting to the web as publication.

What does international law say?

That’s too bad. Canadian publication law does consider posting to the web as publication.

What does international law say?

So you cheated and used your brain on the bonus question, I’ll be sure to remember that.

In regards to your question, I’ll respond the USCO would “Excellent question!”

The truth is that they don’t know and neither do we. They seem to have decided that putting something on the Web is NOT publication by itself but if you take extra steps like that they leave it up to the copyright holder to make the call.

Yeah, that sounds dumb to me too.

Amita:

First off, I’m glad you had fun and that you found this site useful. I am going to subscribe to yours in a bit as well.

As far as misreading the bonus goes, it happens. You were absolutely correct about Alice though. In fact, without that, I doubt we’d have the “Alice” video game that is so much fun. Well, that and three dollar copies of the novel in bookstores.

In regards to the Rowling story, you were actually the first to let me know about it though another copy of it came into my feed reader today. It’s a strange tale and, if I knew more about copyright in India I might have something insightful to say about it.

I know that, in the U.S. at least, characters are protected by copyright and that protection is often separate from the protection the rest of the work has. That’s what makes fan fiction illegal unless permitted by the author.

So, could you be sued for dressing up HP for Halloween. Theoretically, yes, but the odds of that happening are slim to none. For one you would probably just a buy a costume that was properly licensed and second, even if you did it yourself, there would be little in the way of damages that they could collect.

Besides, here you can always claim parody.

In short, such a suit would be valueless and fraught with legal challenges.

I think what made the case in India a target is that it was a for profit event, at least by Rowling’s standard, and was much more public.

In the end though, all of this is for nothing. The case was resolved and the party goes on:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Kolkata/Potter_pandal_already_a_hit_with_kids/articleshow/2454350.cms

So, Jeremy, you were wrong on this one… She can’t win just anything after all. I’m shocked too.

So you cheated and used your brain on the bonus question, I’ll be sure to remember that.

In regards to your question, I’ll respond the USCO would “Excellent question!”

The truth is that they don’t know and neither do we. They seem to have decided that putting something on the Web is NOT publication by itself but if you take extra steps like that they leave it up to the copyright holder to make the call.

Yeah, that sounds dumb to me too.

Amita:

First off, I’m glad you had fun and that you found this site useful. I am going to subscribe to yours in a bit as well.

As far as misreading the bonus goes, it happens. You were absolutely correct about Alice though. In fact, without that, I doubt we’d have the “Alice” video game that is so much fun. Well, that and three dollar copies of the novel in bookstores.

In regards to the Rowling story, you were actually the first to let me know about it though another copy of it came into my feed reader today. It’s a strange tale and, if I knew more about copyright in India I might have something insightful to say about it.

I know that, in the U.S. at least, characters are protected by copyright and that protection is often separate from the protection the rest of the work has. That’s what makes fan fiction illegal unless permitted by the author.

So, could you be sued for dressing up HP for Halloween. Theoretically, yes, but the odds of that happening are slim to none. For one you would probably just a buy a costume that was properly licensed and second, even if you did it yourself, there would be little in the way of damages that they could collect.

Besides, here you can always claim parody.

In short, such a suit would be valueless and fraught with legal challenges.

I think what made the case in India a target is that it was a for profit event, at least by Rowling’s standard, and was much more public.

In the end though, all of this is for nothing. The case was resolved and the party goes on:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Kolkata/Pott...

So, Jeremy, you were wrong on this one… She can’t win just anything after all. I’m shocked too.

I would think, using such characters as a theme is an extension of the work and not necessarily a violation. This is a completely different medium. Can such a reproduction be also considered a copyright? For example, if I dress as Harry Potter in Haloween, will I be sued?

Also, does the same hold true for Mickey Mouse and other Disney Characters?