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09-16-2004, 02:21 PM
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 Harry Potter IP claim pinned down on the beaches - HP IP claim pinned down on the beaches Summary:
First it threatened teenagers with legal action for having Harry Potter fan websites, then it threatened legal action against e-mail services for using the name "shire" (the Hobbits' home in Lord of the Rings), Article: Quote: First it threatened teenagers with legal action for having Harry Potter fan websites, then it threatened legal action against e-mail services for using the name "shire" (the Hobbits' home in Lord of the Rings), now Warner Brothers is threatening legal action against tour company British Tours for daring to point out that some of Britain's most famous buildings were used in the films of the Harry Potter books.
You are... offering 'Harry Potter Location Tours' [that] infringe our client's rights," read the first letter from the US film company's UK solicitors, Addleshaw Goddard. As such, British Tours was "deceiving customers". There was a "clear case of passing off of our clients' goodwill leading to a likelihood of substantial damage". Therefore, its only option was to stop immediately and sign the attached Form of Acknowledgement and Undertakings, within 11 days. Otherwise "we will... consider issuing proceedings against you immediately."
British Tours was established in 1958 - seven years before Harry Potter author JK Rowling was born - and has been giving guided tours across the UK ever since. As well as covering just about every famous cathedral, castle and ruin in the UK, it has long since offered "special interests themes" where locations connected with famous people, both fictional and non-fictional, are visited and their connection explained. Winston Churchill, Sherlock Holmes, Jack the Ripper, the Beatles and Mary Queen of Scots have all been represented. And since 2003, fictional child wizard Harry Potter.
Many of the Hogwart's school scenes were filmed at Oxford University especially Christ Church - including the staircase where Mrs McGonagall greets the schoolchildren, the Great Hall on which Hogwart's dining room was modelled, the library where Harry creeps at night under his invisible cloak, and Hogwart's hospital," reads British Tour's website
It goes on to point out that Gloucester's Norman cathedral, Lacock Abbey, London Zoo, King's Cross station, London's Leadenhall Market and Australia House on the Strand were also all included in various scenes in the three Harry Potter films made so far
The explanation as to how the tour was causing actual damage to Warner Brothers is this: "A number of operators have previously run tours associated with Harry Potter. When these have been postponed or cancelled, there have been complaints," argued one of the letters. "Such complaints inevitably impact upon our clients and the Harry Potter brand."
Warner Brothers continues to argue this point, with a lawyer from the company's IP department telling us: "This is a blatant misuse of our trademark. British Tours is using our rights in a commercial manner." Warner Brothers is only seeking to "protect fans", we were told.
To back up this point, the spokeswoman referred to a previous "Harry Potter" tour that went wrong and resulted in newspaper headlines such as "Hogwarts' Hogwash". Warner Brothers, she told us, received letters complaining about the incident.
We argued that people are easily able to distinguish between a book, a film and a tour, and that most would not even be aware that Warner Brothers was the company behind the Harry Potter films. It was not accepted. "It is the brand itself that is damaged," we were told. "What if someone gets injured on the tour? We have no control over what they're doing," went the argument.
Warner Brothers agrees - now: "We are not asking them to stop the tour, just to rename it," the spokeswoman told us. "And to put up a notice to say that it is an unofficial tour." It has requested that British Tours change its "Harry Potter tour" to "Tour of Locations used in the Harry Potter films" and add a disclaimer that the tour is "not approved or endorsed by or otherwise connected with Warner Bros or JK Rowling".
As a company whose business is showing people around old and ancient buildings and monuments, British Tours also sought to assure Warner Brothers that Harry Potter was not that important to it. "We are a tours company showing 2,000 years of British history to our clients, not a video seller and Harry Potter is of quite ephemeral interest to us."
This only incensed Warner Brothers further. In the course of another series of correspondence, it turned out that British Tours actually informed Warner Brothers about its intention to run Harry Potter tours in 2002 and received no suggestion that this would infringe any apparent trademark. Irrelevant, cried a letter from Warner Brothers dated 29 June 2004.
For full artical please Click here
Article from The Register
For more information on UK Harry potter tours please Click Here
Source: The Register via Hpana  | |
09-30-2004, 09:05 AM
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#26 (permalink)
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That's ridiclously obsessive! Really, you would think that they had enough money now they are trying to get even more. I think it is fare to tell people the tour is unofficial but serioulsy they need to leave the sites alone, it's the people on these sites thats providing them with the profit they have made. They are being so picky, protective and just damn right annoying.:guns: mwuahaha look at that!  and that :p these are dementedly kool.
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09-30-2004, 09:34 AM
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#27 (permalink)
| | Horklump
Join Date: Aug 2004 Location: Bayern
Posts: 46
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I partly agree with fr2nc1z:
Of course it would be ridiculous and idiotic for WB to go after harmless 14 year-old non-profit fanfic writers - that would mean attacking the very customers that spend all their pocket money to buy WB products. Imagine WB doing something against the snitch seeker site - they would have 45.000 outraged fans throwing rocks at them!!
But I think the case of the British Tours-company is different: here it's not innocent kids running a web page, it's one company knowingly using the copyrighted product of another, without permission and to their own advantage. British Tours claims they've been around for almost 50 years, so they're certainly old enough to know a few basic rules about business and copyright laws! They DO make profit by using the name HP; I doubt many people would go on that tour of theirs if it were only called "old buildings of Britain" or such. Also, the fact that they wrote a letter to WB inquiring about using the name HP seems to me that they were aware of a possible copyright situation. And if WB didn't answer the letter it sure didn't mean they granted them a licence to use the name HP, in my opinion! The fact that British Tours continued to use that name without permission even though they were probably aware of a possible copyright violation sounds to me like "wilful infringement" of a copyright - and I'm no expert in these things, but I know in some countries that charge can have severe consequences! So if the only thing WB asked them to do is to change the name of the tour and add a disclaimer, I think that's a pretty fair and friendly offer. They should accept it and realize they might have gotten in much worse trouble - after all they are old enough to know better!
And I'm sure if any other company suddenly started to use the name "British Tours" to boost their own business, British Tours would be the first to complain and cry "unfair"...
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09-30-2004, 01:29 PM
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#28 (permalink)
|  SS Resident Shopaholic
Couture ChickGriffin
Join Date: Jun 2004
Posts: 8,874
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I agree with Floriane 
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