NEW YORK — A judge ruled Monday in favor of “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling in her copyright infringement lawsuit against a fan and Web site operator who was set to publish a Potter encyclopedia.
U.S. District Judge Robert P. Patterson said Rowling had proven that Steven Vander Ark’s “Harry Potter Lexicon” would cause her irreparable harm as a writer. He permanently blocked publication of the reference guide and awarded Rowling and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. $6,750 in statutory damages.
“I took no pleasure at all in bringing legal action and am delighted that this issue has been resolved favorably,” Rowling said Monday in a statement.
“The proposed book took an enormous amount of my work and added virtually no original commentary of its own,” the statement said.
Rowling and Warner Bros., maker of the Harry Potter films and owner of intellectual property rights to the Potter books and movies, sued Michigan-based RDR Books last year to stop publication of material from the Harry Potter Lexicon Web site run by Vander Ark.
The small publisher was not contesting that the lexicon infringes upon Rowling’s copyright but argued that it was a fair use allowable by law for reference books.
In his ruling, Patterson noted that reference materials are generally useful to the public, but that in this case, Vander Ark went too far. He said he ruled in Rowling’s favor because the “Lexicon appropriates too much of Rowling’s creative work for its purposes as a reference guide.”
Jury selection begins in Simpson’s robbery trial
LAS VEGAS — Jury selection for O.J. Simpson’s robbery-kidnap trial began Monday with the judge trying to head off any influence from the former football star’s 1995 acquittal on double-murder charges.
Outside the presence of prospective jurors, Judge Jackie Glass rejected defense attorney Yale Galanter’s request to ask if they thought Simpson was a murderer, and when the panel was brought in for questioning, she sternly lectured the group.
“If you are here thinking you are going to punish Mr. Simpson for what happened in Los Angeles in 1995, this is not the case for you,” she said. “If you’re looking to become famous because of your service in this case, write a book, then this is not the case for you.”
Simpson and co-defendant Clarence “C.J.” Stewart are accused of robbing two sports collectibles dealers at a Las Vegas hotel last year.
In the Los Angeles case, Simpson was found not guilty of murdering his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman. Simpson later was found civilly liable for their deaths.
During initial questioning, two prospects said they could not put aside what they knew about the case and were dismissed. A dozen others were dismissed from service in the projected five-week trial because of hardship. They included students who had just begun new semesters and a man starting a new job.
Jury selection could take a week or longer, court officials have said.
Olbermann, Matthews cut as political anchors
NEW YORK — MSNBC is replacing Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews as co-anchors of political night coverage with David Gregory, and will use the two newsmen as commentators.
The change reflects tensions between the freewheeling, opinionated MSNBC and the newsgatherers at NBC News. Throughout the primaries and summer, MSNBC argued that Olbermann and Matthews could serve as dispassionate anchors on political news nights and that viewers would accept them in that role, but things fell apart during the conventions.
Gregory, the veteran Washington hand, will anchor MSNBC’s coverage of the presidential and vice presidential debates and election night, network spokesman Jeremy Gaines said Sunday.
The tipping point appears to have come during the GOP convention, when Olbermann criticized MSNBC for showing a Sept. 11-themed video prepared by the Republicans.
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