I love april fools day -----Original Message----- From: gamers-boun...@audyssey.org [mailto:gamers-boun...@audyssey.org] On Behalf Of Phil Vlasak Sent: Tuesday, March 31, 2009 9:40 PM To: Gamers Discussion list Subject: [Audyssey] Sarah game infringes J.K. Rowling's copyright
Just in: After four months of deliberating, Judge Robert Patterson has ruled that the Sarah and the castle of witchcraft and wizardry game infringes J.K. Rowling's copyright in the Harry Potter series. According to the AP, Judge Patterson granted an injunction, ruling that Rowling had proven that PCS Game's "Sarah and the castle of witchcraft and wizardry" would cause her irreparable harm as a writer. The suit, filed late last year against PCS Games, an independent game developing company in Michigan, alleged that plans by Michigan-based game developer PCS Games to sell a game, Sarah and the castle of witchcraft and wizardry, who's Web site that serves as a rather daunting compendium of all games for the blind, violated Warner and Rowling's copyright and takes away the future market for a similar game that Rowling and Electronic Arts plans to develop. Here's the opinion. Judge Patterson ruled in Rowling's favor because the "Sarah game" appropriates too much of Rowling's creative work for its purposes." He also wrote that, "While the Sarah game, in its current state, is not a fair use of the Harry Potter works, games that share the Sarah game's purpose of aiding blind game players of being able to play a Harry Potter game generally should be encouraged rather than stifled." Ethan Horwitz, an IP lawyer at King & Spalding, told the Law Blog: "What Judge Patterson is saying is that when you look at fair use, one of the dominant issues is, are you providing commentary or taking the value of the work and selling it as your own? He decided that the value of the work was being taken, that [Rowling] had the ability to develop the kind of game that PCS Games was putting out, and that she'd indicated an intent to do so." April Fool! smiles, Phil --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gam...@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
