Does anyone know Internet Related Law?

[Just-Legal]

Even if not feel free to respond.

Recently several of my favourite Harry Potter fanfic sites received Cease and Desist orders. Mostly vauge (and some aren't backed up by hardcopy yet).

WHAT exactly, if there is one, is the legal stance on this? The fic sites in question host a majority of R / NC-17 (or 18 rating if you live in the UK) and are based in several countries.

Personally I believe that to quash NC-17 sites would be selective. Lawyers would then have to seek out ALL fanfic and kill it too, which would make some BAAAAD PR (especially as Book 5 is due out soon), as HP fanfic is EXTREMELY popular at the moment.

Any thoughts?

 

[Star of Penumbra]

I wouldn't worry until you recieve something more concrete than a vague threat. Most likely it's from some fourteen year old sitting at the back of his typing class registering Hotmail accounts and sending troll emails to more or less random sites.

 

[Just-Legal]

Unfortunately everything checks out, and one site has already received legal papers...

 

[Weird Harold]

WHAT exactly, if there is one, is the legal stance on this? The fic sites in question host a majority of R / NC-17 (or 18 rating if you live in the UK) and are based in several countries.

Harry Potter is a copyrighted character/series that is aimed at a juvenile audience. R-rated and NC17 rated fanfic sites infinge on that copyright in a way that improperly portrays juvenile characters and indirectly harms the copyright holder.

The R and NC17 sites are being enjoined from using the Harry Potter name, because the copyright holder wants any fanfic sites to adhere to the G rating of the series so that anyone searching for "Harry Potter" isn't going to lead underage HArryPotter fans to inappropriate sites.

Technically, ALL fanfic sites not authorized by the copyright holder are illegal and could face legal action. In practice, most copyright holders don't discourage fanfic sites that adhere to the basic principles established for the copyrighted material. They only go after sites that don't adhere to the desired image.

Disney is a corporation/copyright holder that vigorously prosecutes sites that degrade Disney's "Family Image" -- I imagine J.K Rowlings is pursuing a similar policy of maintaining a G-rated or PG-rated image for the name "Harry Potter."