It shouldn’t be news to any regular readers here that Warner Bros. has been a ridiculously jealous protector of all things intellectual property when it comes to the Harry Potter franchise. Harry Potter themed fan festivals? That’s banned magic, according to Warner Bros. Want to make a parody condom called “Harry Poppers”? Here comes Warner Bros. to kill the mood. A non-profit dinner with a Harry Potter theme, mostly to make a mother’s daughter happy? The Warner Bros. did its dementor thing to shut down all that joy.
Now, what should be obvious in all of those examples is that this all works against the interests of Warner Bros., the publishers of the books, and J.K. Rowling. After all, does anyone really believe that these fans showing off their fandom, gathering to celebrate the Harry Potter franchise, in any way is a threat to sales of these books and movies? Of course not! If anything, they build upon the Potter community and serve as an interest multiplier that can’t possibly do anything but drive more interest in the books and films.
Like a library that put together a Harry Potter program for children, only to have it threatened out of existence by Warner Bros.
It’s a sad day for little witches and wizards in Jackson Hole. The Teton County Library’s (TCL) slate of Harry Potter programming has been canceled due to copyright infringement. TCL announced the news on Wednesday, Oct. 2. TCL said it had received a cease-and-desist letter from Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., which owns and controls all things Potter.
“Prior to receiving the letter, Library staff was unaware that this free educational event was a copyright infringement,” TCL’s announcement reads. “In the past, libraries had been encouraged to hold Harry Potter-themed events to promote the books as they were released.”
While other festivals have attempted to rebrand to generic names and themes to get around all of this, the library in this case isn’t bothering. It’s just shutting the whole thing down. And while the library is making conciliatory noises about respecting the intellectual property of others, this is completely idiotic.
Precisely what about a library building some programming around children’s love for Harry Potter represents any kind of threat whatsoever to Warner Bros.? I’ll wait, while someone tries deperately to grasp enough straws to formulate an argument for this. But really, don’t bother. This is protectionism for the sake of protectionism.
And it’s incredibly shortsighted to boot. The fans who grew to love the Harry Potter universe have grown up and now have children of their own. And that new generation could be loyal Potter fans too, if Warner Bros. would let them. Instead, the company appears far more interested in shutting down what are essentially entry points of interest for an entire new generation of potential fans and customers.
It appears Harry Potter will no longer have a nose, with Warner Bros. having cut it off to spite his face.