J.K. Rowling sues festival for constructing physical version of an imaginary place

KOLKATA, India (AFP) – Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling is suing organisers of a religious event for constructing a replica of her imaginary Hogwarts Castle in an eastern India city, officials said Thursday.

How do you make a replica of something that’s imaginary? If I build a recreation of Yossarian’s tent from Catch-22 can I be sued by Joseph Heller’s estate? Doesn’t the whole basis of this law suit put the entire Disney empire at risk? I’m suing over Cinderella’s castle. It infringes on my idea of what the thing should look like. No, wait, Mrs. CD won’t let me. Bad husband. No suing The Mouse. Baaad.

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2 thoughts on “J.K. Rowling sues festival for constructing physical version of an imaginary place

  1. Rising to the bait here, because you just know I can’t resist . . .

    Here’s the real issue, from where I sit: There are significant differences between countries and regions of the world with regard to copyright law. The telling comment in the referenced article? “What we are building is not a violation of copyright act anywhere in the world because it’s a religious festival and has nothing to do with money-making.”

    In the US (and I presume the UK), the existence (or lack thereof) of profit is not the determining factor in whether copyright has been infringed. I can’t claim any understanding of the copyright laws of India, where the alleged infringement is taking place.

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