Author Using Questionable Copying Claim Against Twilight Author For Publicity
from the idea-expression-dichotomy dept
Copyright is only supposed to cover the specific expression, not the idea or concept -- but for many, that's tough to grasp. Unfortunately, the group of folks who sometimes don't understand has included some judges, leading to some wacky rulings at times. However, it still hasn't reached the point where novelists are able to claim ownership of basic plot concepts (though some are trying to claim you can patent a plot). Yet, pretty much any time you have a really successful author, someone shows up and claims that the idea for the famous book was "stolen" from them. It happened (multiple times) with The Da Vinci Code. It's happened (multiple times) with Harry Potter. And, now it's happening to the author of the Twilight vampire series, Stephenie Meyer. Another author (represented by his lawyer, J. Craig Williams) is claiming that the plot of one of the books has similarities to a book she wrote a few years earlier. However, the supposed copying seems weak at best:In a cease-and-desist letter Williams sent to Hachette Book Group, he provided comparisons from the two books of a wedding, a sex-on-the-beach episode and a passage where a human-turned-vampire describes the wrenching change.As you look at the details, it's almost always a situation where the jealous author is really just using the lawsuit as an attempt to get publicity for their book (which is why we're not naming the other book). As if to prove that, the author's lawyer claims:
As another instance of similarities, Williams pointed out that characters in both books call their wives "love."
"I think the fans have to read both books and make up their own mind, like a judge is going to have to," Williams said.Shouldn't there be sanctions for abusing copyright law to file bogus lawsuits just to get some press for your book?
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Rhetoric
Is that a rhetorical question?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Speaking of rhetorical...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
C/W sanctions
Frivolous C/W lawsuit statute? :)
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Speaking of rhetorical...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Again with the rhetoric...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
It makes me giggle though because the film is *terrible*.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Streisand Effect at work?
Although I have ethical reservations about filing frivolous lawsuits and/or using such lawsuits as marketing tactics; I can respect the marketing attempt from a business perspective.
Or of course, this lawsuit could be real in hopes of getting a settlement.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
are teenage girls really like that?
"OMG, like, he totally looked at me"
teen girl yearnings.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Streisand Effect at work?
In this case, the intent isn't to get the Twilight books off the public radar...This is just a plain old money grab.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: Streisand Effect at work?
> Twilight books off the public radar
Really? What exactly do you think the "cease and desist" part of a cease-and-desist letter means?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: Re: Streisand Effect at work?
[ link to this | view in thread ]