JKR/WB vs RDR Books Trial Day Two: Judge Says “A settlement is better than a lawsuit”

Apr 16, 2008

Posted by: KristinTLC

Uncategorized

According to the Wall Street Journal Law Blog, Judge Robert Patterson addressed the courtroom at the end of the second day of trial:

“I’m concerned that this case is more lawyer-driven than it is client-driven. The fair use people are on one side, and a large company is on the other side. . . . The parties ought to see if there’s not a way to work this out, because there are strong issues in this case and it could come out one way or the other. The fair use doctrine is not clear.”

Judge Patterson reportedly added:

“I’m bringing it up now so you can think about it before you get into the rest of the case. Maybe it’s too late; maybe we’ve gone too far down the road. But a settlement is better than a lawsuit.”

In addition to Steve Vander Ark taking the witness stand earlier Tuesday, afternoon testimony centered around the impact a published version of website The Harry Potter Lexicon would have on any encyclopedia J.K. Rowling might write. While publishing expert Bruce Davis stated that such a book would likely have a small print run and do little to harm the potential market for a Rowling-penned book, Suzanne Murphy of Scholastic stated that while she finds Vander Ark’s lexicon to be of “poor quality”, she believes it “has potential to do quite well in the marketplace”.





The Leaky Cauldron is not associated with J.K. Rowling, Warner Bros., or any of the individuals or companies associated with producing and publishing Harry Potter books and films.