Author: Eoin

Dr Eoin O'Dell is a Fellow and Associate Professor of Law at Trinity College Dublin.

Is Harry Potter making a Parody of Copyright Law?

| 12 Comments
| Cinema, television and theatre, Copyright, Fair use

Harri Puttar poster, via chakpak website.Disney and the Joyce Estate have competition in the world of ridiculous over-enforcement of copyright. Step forward Harry Potter. There have been many, many legal disputes involving Harry, and his creator, J.K. Rowling. For example, several years ago now, Tim Wu wrote an entertaining piece in Slate called Harry Potter and the International Order of Copyright (with added links):

J.K. Rowling and her publisher [Bloomsbury / Scholastic] have launched an aggressive worldwide legal campaign against the unauthorized Potter takeoffs … [they] can use the courts in [TRIPS]/WTO-compliant countries to club her Potter rivals.

Moreover, Warner Bros (the studio behind the Harry Potter movies) takes stern action against cybersquatters on Potter-like domain names (including an infamous example where they threatened 15-year-old Harry Potter fan, Claire Field, with legal action, though they eventually backed down). More recently, the same plaintiffs have sought to prevent the publication of The Harry Potter Lexicon (see its earlier – and continuing – website incarnation here). While we await judgment, you could do worse than check out Neil Gaiman‘s comments on the case.

Now comes news from Legal Eagle on Skeptic Lawyer that Warners are taking on the might of Bollywood, seeking to restrain the distribution of an Indian movie called Hari Puttar – A Comedy of Terrors.…

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Oh, delicious irony: Disney might not own copyright in Mickey Mouse!?

| 4 Comments
| Cinema, television and theatre, Copyright

A wonderful video on YouTube seeks to teach the basic principles of copyright law using Disney characters. It’s very entertaining, and the legal analysis is pretty accurate. Perhaps Disney‘s infamously litigious lawyers should have studied it, not for its potential breach of copyright, but for its content, since it seems that Disney might not in fact own some copyrights in their central character, Mickey Mouse.

As Prof David Vaver observed in a fascinating lecture on publishers and copyright (with added links):

Walt Disney may be dead but the corporation he left behind makes no secret of its intention to ensure Mickey’s worldwide legal immortality. To mangle Horace, this is one silly mouse that will produce mountains of law.

…

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Sage transatlantic advice

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| law school, Universities

Harry Arthurs, via the Osgoode website.A little late, from Law is Cool, with added links, an extract from a recent speech by Prof Harry Arthurs (pictured) which is as relevant to graduates on this side of the pond as it is in Canada:

Success Should not come at Expense of Social Justice

By: Law is Cool Contributor · August 22, 2008 · Filed Under Law Career, Pro Bono ·  

York University President Emeritus Harry Arthurs told graduands at Spring Convocation ceremonies last [June] …,

…if you have abilities, if you have resources and opportunities, you also have an obligation to use them on behalf of people who don’t.

Arthurs, a renowned labour law scholar, graduated with his law degree from the University of Toronto in 1958.

A video of his speech is available here.

There is more on the speech, with photos and background, here. …

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Blog posts on Restitution – featuring Skippy, the Bush Kangaroo!

| 3 Comments
| Cinema, television and theatre, Restitution

Steve Hedley has added a very useful page on blog posts relating to restitution to his wonderful site of legal resources on Restitution and Unjust Enrichment. From it, I learn of an entertaining post Hand over the money, Skippy by Legal Eagle on skepticlawyer.

On television, before Barney, long before Barney, there was Skippy, Skippy, Skippy, the bush kangaroo we all love to hate, or at least to parody. Now, Legal Eagle directs us to a fabulous story in which Actor Tony Bonner wants residuals from Skippy:

AFTER 40 years it seems there’s one last adventure left for Skippy, Australia’s iconic television kangaroo – Skippy Goes To Court.

…

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The Laws of Identity

| 1 Comment
| Privacy

Image symbol via Kim Cameron's site.The Laws of Identity is the title of an intriguing project which proceeds from the starting point that the fact the internet was built without a way to know who and what you are connecting to not only limits what we can do with it but also exposes us to growing dangers. The fundamental aim of the enterprise was to construct a formal, and universal, means of dealing with identity online, which could be expressed in a series of Laws of Identity, and which would “define a unifying identity metasystem that can offer the Internet the identity layer it so obviously requires”. It is an ongoing process of online discussion, during which the laws have been put forward, trashed out, and fine-tuned. A recent summary of the outcome of this enterprise stated the following six basic laws:

People using computers should be in control of giving out information about themselves, just as they are in the physical world.

The minimum information needed for the purpose at hand should be released, and only to those who need it. Details should be retained no longer than necesary.

It should NOT be possible to automatically link up everything we do in all aspects of how we use the Internet.

…

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Why are there more legal Blogs in the US than the UK, or Ireland?

| No Comments
| Blogging, Law, Media and Communications

Times MastheadFrom an article in The Times by Alex Wade (who blogs as Surf Nation):

Legal blogs: isn’t it time British lawyers staked their claim in the blogosphere?

Should law firms have blogs? In America they are all the rage. Just about every self-respecting law professor has one, many firms believe them to be a must-have accoutrement, and even one or two judges have got in the act.

In Britain only a handful of legal practitioners maintain blogs, but as society increasingly embraces the Web 2.0 world of interactivity, collaboration and social networking, isn’t it time that UK firms staked their claim in the blogosphere? …

It may be, too, that the embedded right to freedom of expression in American society, in contrast to Britons’ tendency to discretion (exemplified, arguably, in our highly developed libel laws), is another factor in transatlantic enthusiasm for the blogosphere.

I’m sure exactly the same questions can be asked in Ireland. …

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The Internet, and Privacy – from today’s Observer

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| Media and Communications, Privacy

Observer Front Page, Sunday 17 JUly 2008Three columns in today’s Observer raise interesting issues.

First, Vint Cerf – If you thought the internet was cool, wait until it goes space age – sings a characteristic paean to the internet:

After working on the internet for more than three decades, I’m more optimistic about its promise than ever. It has the potential to change unexpected parts of our lives: … we’re at the cusp of a truly global internet that will bring people closer together and democratise access to information. We are all free to innovate on the net every day and we should look forward to more people around the world enjoying that freedom.

Of course, not all of that information is or will be equal. Some of it is erroneous, or unreliable, or irelevant; so we will have to acquire and apply principles of discernment and technqiues of filtering. Unfortunately, we aren’t very good at doing that now; and there is nothing to suggest we not be any better online. …

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