“The idea of copyright did not exist in ancient times, when authors frequently copied other authors at length in works of non-fiction. This practice was useful, and is the only way many authors' works have survived even in part”.
The collection of Harry Porter by J.K. Rowling
Ark's 'Harry Porter Lexicon'
World’s most famous author, J.K Rowling (writer of the world renowned Harry Potter books) had filed for a copyright lawsuit against a fan, Steven Vander Ark, for publishing a Harry Potter encyclopaedia. Rowling has successfully won the copyright battle when she proved that Steven Ark’s, ‘Harry Potter Lexicon’ would cause her permanent harm as a famous author.
Rowling claims that Ark’s encyclopaedia was a mere rearrangement of her own material and that his content was so alike and it seems to be plagiarised from her. Rowling says, “I think it's dreadful. I think it's sloppy. I think there's very little research”. She added that Ark’s action of publishing has stolen 17-years of her hard earn effort in publishing her work to people around the world.
Ark vs Rowling
The case of 'Rowling vs Ark' can be linked to theory: the Law of Copyright. There should be no qiestions to why Rowling took the action against Ark. This is because, according to Walker (1997), the Law of Copyright shows that “patents, trademarks, and copyrights are all ways of protecting original creations”. Walker also mentioned that when a work is created, it is patent; hence, the author has full rights to their own invention.
Walker emphasized that in the Law of Copyright, one is only allowed to use not more than 10% of a work of others, be it a poem, paper or any other documentations. In addition, proper accreditation should be given to the original author. However, according to Walker (1997), there can still be legal penalties, including fines, for the use of copyrighted materials without permission, even though appropriate academic credit is given. Even though Ark may have good intention, which is to create an easy-to-read encyclopaedia for the Harry Potter fans, he had actually breached the Law of Copyright. His act was unethical in terms of ethics in communication. “'But it's not illegal' is no excuse for failure to accept personal responsibility for your ethical choices” (Weber 1995).
References:
‘Harry Potter Author Wins Copyright Claim’, CBS News, viewed on 12th June 2009, <http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/09/08/entertainment/main4426302.shtml>.
Walker, J 1997, ‘Intellectual Property in the Information Age: A Classroom Guide to Copyright’, University of South Florida, viewed on 12th June 2009, <http://personal.georgiasouthern.edu/~jwalker/ip/ipdummie.html#special>.
Weber, J H 1995,’Ethics in scientific and technical communication’, WISENET Journal 38, viewed on 12th June 2009, <http://www.jeanweber.com/newsite/?page_id=22>.
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