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Hitchhiker
Rear Admiral
Joined: 11 Aug 2004
Posts: 3514
Location: Ontario, Canada
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 Tue Jul 12, 2005 7:02 pm Reading ban on leaked Harry Potter |
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| Quote: | Reading ban on leaked Harry Potter
By Jack Malvern, Arts Reporter and Richard Cleroux in Ottawa
WHILE the rest of the world must wait until midnight on Friday to read the latest Harry Potter adventure, a handful of fans in a Canadian commuter town might know the book�s secrets because a supermarket broke the embargo.
Fourteen fans bought Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince from The Real Canadian Superstore in Coquitlam on the west coast of Canada before managers realised their mistake. But readers will be unable to share their knowledge after Raincoast Books, the book�s Canadian publisher, was granted a �John Doe� injunction prohibiting the buyers from even reading their copies before the publication date.
The supreme court of British Columbia issued a court order preventing anyone from �displaying, reading, offering for sale, selling or exhibiting in public� their books. J. K. Rowling�s legal advisers said that the author was entitled to prevent buyers from reading their own books even though they had not broken the law.
�The fact is that this is property that should not have been in their possession,� said Neil Blair, a legal specialist for Christopher Little, the author�s literary agent. �Copyright holders are entitled to protect their work. If the content of the book is confidential until July 16, which it is, why shouldn�t someone who has the physical book be prevented from reading it and thereby obtaining the confidential information? How they came to have access to the book is immaterial.�
British lawyers described the injunction as �unfair and excessive� but added that the reader did not have a right in law to read the book. Korieh Duodu, a media lawyer for David Price Solicitors and Advocates, said: �I have never heard of such a wide-ranging order. One sympathises with the reader from a non-legal point of view, but property rights often trump civil liberties. There is no human right to read.�
The injunction has already been tested after one buyer attempted to sell the book on eBay, an internet auction website. Mr Blair intervened and the sale has been halted. Other buyers have volunteered to return their copies, he said.
The injunction is similar to a court order imposed in England and Wales after two men from Kettering, Northamptonshire, allegedly stole a copy from a warehouse and attempted to sell details to The Sun newspaper. The order states that anyone who discloses names of new characters or plot details will be in contempt of court. It applies even to books acquired in good faith.
Raincoast Books has attempted to persuade buyers to return their books by offering a bookplate signed by J. K. Rowling and a T-shirt. Bloomsbury, the British publisher of Harry Potter, has given warning that any shop breaking the embargo will have further stock witheld.
Jo Marino, a spokeswoman for Waterstone�s, said that book chains would receive copies no earlier than Thursday. �At our branches someone must be with the books all the time to ensure that no one scampers off with them.�
A spokesman for Loblaw Companies, which owns the The Real Canadian Superstore, said that the book had not been leaked maliciously, but only through �inadvertent error�. |
Source
Yet another reason why intellectual property laws are stupid and need to be rethinked. 
(And I'm a writer.)
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Cathexis
The Angel of Avalon
Joined: 26 Dec 2001
Posts: 5901
Location: ~~ Where Dreams Have No End�
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| Tue Jul 12, 2005 10:17 pm |
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^^yea, me too...
Wow, this is so crappy....I can't believe they can do that..did they confiscate their copies or something? If the answer to my q is in the article,lol,I didn't see it.
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Hitchhiker
Rear Admiral
Joined: 11 Aug 2004
Posts: 3514
Location: Ontario, Canada
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| Tue Jul 12, 2005 10:20 pm |
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No, they can't confiscate the copies because legally the copies are owned by whoever purchased them. They just made it illegal for them to read the copies until Saturday.
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Lord Borg
Fleet Admiral
Joined: 27 May 2003
Posts: 11214
Location: Vulcan Capital City, Vulcan
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| Tue Jul 12, 2005 11:47 pm |
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That is silly, If i were in that situation, I would still read it, (what have you got someone watching thoes 14 people?) thats Kinda odd, its Legaly theirs, because they purshaced it, but its Illegal to read it lol
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purple_kathryn
Lieutenant, Junior Grade
Joined: 16 Jan 2005
Posts: 91
Location: Belfast
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| Wed Jul 13, 2005 4:24 am |
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Im a quick reader
Id read it then return it
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Jeff Miller
Fleet Admiral
Joined: 22 Nov 2001
Posts: 23947
Location: Mental Ward for the Mentaly Unstable 6th floor, Saint John's 1615 Delaware Longview Washington 98632
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| Thu Jul 14, 2005 10:52 am |
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It's a freaking book, whats the big deal about it? ooh what J.K Rawlings won't get anymore money?
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purple_kathryn
Lieutenant, Junior Grade
Joined: 16 Jan 2005
Posts: 91
Location: Belfast
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| Thu Jul 14, 2005 11:16 am |
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Pretty sure that even if they sell them early JK still gets the money......
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IntrepidIsMe
Pimp Handed
Joined: 14 Jun 2002
Posts: 13057
Location: New York
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| Thu Jul 14, 2005 12:09 pm |
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Only in Canada.
-------signature-------
"Nelly, I am Heathcliff! He's always, always in my mind: not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself, but as my own being."
-Wuthering Heights
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purple_kathryn
Lieutenant, Junior Grade
Joined: 16 Jan 2005
Posts: 91
Location: Belfast
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| Thu Jul 14, 2005 12:38 pm |
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2 more days 
Can't wait!
Kathryn
-------signature-------
"There's not much makeup in the army, is there? No. They only have that nighttime look, and that's a bit slapdash, isn't it?" - Eddie Izzard
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Cathexis
The Angel of Avalon
Joined: 26 Dec 2001
Posts: 5901
Location: ~~ Where Dreams Have No End�
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| Fri Jul 15, 2005 7:57 pm |
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I can't believe they can BAN these people from reading their copies! It's ILLEGAL for them to do such until tomorrow? What BS...that's so not fair, I'd protest. 
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Link, the Hero of Time
Vice Admiral
Joined: 15 Sep 2001
Posts: 5581
Location: Kokori Forest, Hyrule
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| Fri Jul 15, 2005 9:38 pm |
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And unfortunetly you'd lose. There is a reason for release dates.
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Seven of Nine
Sammie's Mammy
Joined: 16 Jun 2001
Posts: 7871
Location: North East England
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| Sat Jul 16, 2005 2:16 am |
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Well, they've been allowed to read them for 8 hours 14 minutes now 
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Alucard
Vampire
Joined: 06 Nov 2004
Posts: 2780
Location: Caaaaaanada
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| Sat Jul 16, 2005 2:24 am |
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out here it's only 1 hour and 20 minutes
IN Canada lol
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