Skip to content

Biting the hand that feeds IT

The Register ®


Related Whitepapers

[Print][Mobile][Alerts]

Another child's Christmas ruined by Warner Brothers

No you can't like Harry Potter and be interested in computers

Published Tuesday 19th December 2000 18:01 GMT

We've covered Claire Field's legal troubles with the domain www.harrypotterguide.co.uk but were equally appalled by the self-same situation involving a ten-year-old girl.

Scotsman Steve McDonald registered www.harry-potter-magic.co.uk for his daughter, but was shocked to find legal letters and bolshy lawyers breathing down his neck soon after. As Steve explains it: "I got the domain because I thought I'd try to get my daughter interested in PC things. She loves Harry Potter, so I thought using that I could get her working on computers - which will be useful later on in life."

Sadly not. He was originally sent an email asking him what he intended to do with the site and explained. He also offered that if the relevant people were upset about his use of the domain name, he'd hand it over if they could tell him which domain name they wouldn't be offended by and would send his daughter some Harry Potter goods.

Steve then entered into communication with Neil Blair - who is running all the Harry Potter domain disputes in this country - who, to his credit, recognised Steve's position and pointed out that he was behind him but it was difficult to pick out who were actual cybersquatters and who weren't. So far, so good.

However, while Steve felt the situation had been resolved, he soon after received a legal letter insisting the domain be handed over to Warner Brothers. The same old story. Can you see anything wrong with this situation? We are, yet again, unimpressed. ®

Related Stories

Warner Bros/ Harry Potter dispute kicks off again
Warner Bros backs down on Harry Potter Web site
Reg to fight for Harry Potter 'cybersquatter'
Warner Brothers bullies girl over Harry Potter site

Track this type of story as a custom Atom/RSS feed or by email.
Previous Article Next Article
  • Microsoft System Center - Designed For Big
  • Meet the fast-growing demand for notebooks with HP
  • Find out how to eradicate 99.7% of spam, click here
  • From small embedded OS to the world's most used open mobile OS
whitepaper title

Server Consolidation and Containment

This paper discusses how consolidation and containment solutions with a virtual infrastructure meet the challenges of server sprawl and underutilization..
whitepaper title

Making Green IT a Reality

Customer Perspectives on the Impact of Storage Vendor Decisions on Power, Cooling, & Space in Enterprise Data Centers.
Whitepapers Jobs

Top 20 storiesAll The Week’s HeadlinesArchiveSearch