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Scholastic Loses It Over Harry Potter/BitTorent Story

techcrunch.com — It didn ’t take long for Scholastic, the U.S. publisher of the Harry Potter books, to send us a takedown notice for our post “The Latest Harry Potter Book Hits BitTorrent.”

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  • meshman, on 10/11/2007, -52/+10"I have a good faith belief that the materials identified below are not authorized by the IP Owner, its agent, or the law and therefore infringe the IP Owner’s rights according to state and federal law. Please act expeditiously to remove or disable access to the material or items claimed to be infringing. "

    Dear Madam:

    I am extremely confused by the letter you recently sent. I don't personally own any IP's myself as the Class C my IP is based in is actually owned by Sprint. If you suspect that my Internet Protocol address has somehow violated some terms of service or copyright, I recommend you speak to the people that own the Class C from which my IP address is obtained, Sprint. I do not have the responsibility to research what uses my IP addresses have been used for, nor am I responsible for the actions of the previous or current owners. If you choose to bother me further with irrelevant communications, I'll be forced to persue harassment charges against you.

    Sincerely...
    • LeapDaddy, on 10/11/2007, -12/+0sent via gmail
    • davidleeroth, on 10/11/2007, -3/+14Yeah.... I'm pretty sure they're talking about intellectual property here.
    • aspec, on 10/11/2007, -2/+10I'm fairly certain that by IP Owner, they were referring to "Intellectual Property." Now stop typing before you get someone sued.
    • fober, on 10/11/2007, -1/+5Internet Protocol != Intellectual Property
    • boredsam, on 10/11/2007, -9/+1HAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHA
    • Th3Element05, on 10/11/2007, -1/+15Intellectual Property, something which you clearly will never have.
    • atomicfireball, on 10/11/2007, -2/+3Or, perhaps, sarcasm, something you've probably heard of, but don't seem to recognize in its natural form :)
      • aliengoods, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1Sarcasm really doesn't do well on this site.
  • gootdude, on 10/11/2007, -3/+40In this case, IP stands for Intellectual Property.
  • barnhart912, on 10/11/2007, -31/+13***** Harry Potter
  • garyinthehouse, on 10/11/2007, -22/+2Well, Scholastic makes a lot of money off of the Harry Potter stuff, so I'm not surprised that they will do anything to protect their intellectual property. But I could be wrong...

    Gary
  • scotus, on 10/11/2007, -19/+9f--- scholastic. picture of one page--that's one of the clearest cases of fair use you can make. it didn't even have text. boingboing pointed out that they spent $20 million on security, and what good did it do them? they can't stop this story from being published. and they shouldnt harass websites for using their first amendment rights. i can't wait for the book, but they and their lawyers can suck it.
    • Myonosken, on 10/11/2007, -6/+4Read the rest of the article properly, *****, the whole book was photographed.
      • menos, on 10/11/2007, -1/+6But TechCrunch didn't post the whole book. They just talked about it. Posting the title page in a news story would be considered fair use. At least fair use as envisioned by history.
        • levi, on 10/11/2007, -2/+3But they did have a link to the Torrent Freak download.
          • EllimistX, on 10/11/2007, -2/+0Yes, but torrents are legal, last I heard...no? That's how tracker sites get away with it...
    • Frecklefoot, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4I think the thing they had a problem with was the link at the bottom of the article to The Pirate Bay. The link has been removed. Of course, I could be wrong...
  • Detritus, on 10/11/2007, -6/+12"Silly Internets! You can't let those 1s and 0s run around or you'll get a tummy-ache!", Excerpt from Scholastic's upcoming best seller "Bobby and the Evil Internet"
  • RadiantBeing, on 10/11/2007, -8/+3I see what you did there.
  • skyfire1, on 10/11/2007, -9/+2This is great. Some loser makes a ***** book from grainy pics and the book owner actually cares?
    • ripter, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Scholastic is not the book owner, they have the rights to publish the book in the US
  • Curiousity, on 10/11/2007, -7/+2I haven't been keeping up recently. Does anyone know what the current legal jargon is for linking to copyrighted materials?
  • cankillar, on 10/11/2007, -6/+3FTA: "A print article in USA Today says that they are contacting every site that has mentioned this story and demanding it be taken down."

    Oh noes, not my blog! :(

    They can't seriously see this through, can they?
    • gernblansted, on 10/11/2007, -2/+1It would be a measure of their stupidity, or at least the measure of the attorney's client's stupidity for listening to the attorney.

      Much of this kind of stupidity is driven by the attorney, who convinces the client it's in their best interest and the attorney cleans up, even if their client looks stupid in the end.
      • akeating, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3Yeah, props to the legal team that's making a killing off this. I don't really blame them, they're just looking for some easy money from the asshat higher-ups.
  • NukkChorris, on 10/11/2007, -7/+1LOL - yes not internet protocols
  • jtgonzal, on 10/11/2007, -2/+17Any PR is good PR. It's not like millions of copies haven't _already_ been sold.

    Also, this article is in the wrong topic.
    • dn11, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Amazon has already sold almost 2 million copies in preorder, including my copy
  • starseed420, on 10/11/2007, -2/+40Do they honestly think they're going to lose any money on this ? The moment the book is officially released they'll be high quality pdfs all over bittorrent anyway ...
  • Derfy, on 10/11/2007, -7/+2Being a huge Harry Potter fan myself, even I have to admit that there's nothing wrong with posting this on bittorrent - as long as people don't spoil it for the people who chose not to view it on bittorrent, it's really a non-issue (besides the whole copyright infringement, thing, of course).
    • Taorluath, on 10/11/2007, -2/+2"Nothing wrong?" You realize that its ILLEGAL?
      "Daddy, that plasma screen tv looks cool, can I steal it?"
      "Sure thing sweety, there's nothing wrong with it."
      "Hooray Daddy! Breaking the law is FUN!"
      • EbilPhish, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Being legal and ethical aren't necessarily the same, just because something is ILLEGAL doesn't make it WRONG. There are plenty of stupid laws around and there are laws in other countries that allow for raped women to be stoned to death.

        I downloaded the HP7 torrent and have already read the book on my PSP, but I'm still going to buy it since I want the series and other people in my family will want to read it also. I download other books also, if I didn't download them I would just be getting them from the library which is more time consuming and inconvenient. In both cases my downloading hasn't cost anyone money. Possibly the library funding is based on amount of rentals and the funding goes to buying books from authors but I still rent from the library anyway but the amount of books I download wouldn't be possible to rent.
  • rgallagher, on 10/11/2007, -14/+125H4-RR-YP-0T-T3-RI-Z4-LO-4D-0F-GH-3Y

    ...quick, spread it! ;)
    • counterplex, on 10/11/2007, -1/+6I'm a harry potter fan but this was done too nicely to ignore :) Your comment, sir, has been dugg!
    • DarkDragon, on 10/11/2007, -5/+1If that were ever to be an AACS processing key, it would be great =]
      • meez, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Except it's not hexidecimal. Probability: 0
    • doshindude, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Win. You Win.
  • cminardi, on 10/11/2007, -6/+1Do they realize that they do not control the universe? If your content is out here on the internet, it's as good as mine and everyone else's. You can throw a temper tantrum and you'll wind up like this:

    http://thepiratebay.org/legal

    In a hilarious list of legal threats for everyone to laugh at you from.
  • soot, on 10/11/2007, -13/+8Shut the ***** up, Scholastic.
  • CDoug03, on 10/11/2007, -4/+3At least they know who to sue. Hurray for stupid hackers.
  • blast0x, on 10/11/2007, -13/+8OH SNAPE!
    www.thepiratebay.org
  • falstaff, on 10/11/2007, -3/+7These lawyers have never tried to read a book on a computer screen. If they had, they'd laugh off every attempt. It's horribly uncomfortable. The only people downloading the book are the folks looking for the spoilers a few days early, that would be online by 12:05 AM Saturday anyway. The whole effort is a complete waste of time, but lawyers have to look busy to justify the bills they send to the clients.
    • thebarkingdog, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4I downloaded it. I was planning on getting in line at midnight, but now I'll just buy it on Saturday or Sunday. By then, I'll have read about half of it at least, and yeah, it is horribly uncomfortable.
      • kazamx, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5I thought to myself. I will just read the intro. then chapter one, two, three. I read the lot. I have still got the book ordered but I just couldn't stop myself.

        Its a great book. But I am amazed its still a kids book. Some of the scenes involve horrific torture. There is no way I could read some of the chapters to a small child.
        • xaxxon, on 10/11/2007, -6/+1SPOILER:

          SPOILER:

          It's a kid's book because NO ONE FRICKIN DIES. I mean, sure.. some fairly minor character here, some other one there.. snape at the end.. but then *19 years later* Everyone lives happily ever frickin' after.

  • brianbennett, on 10/11/2007, -4/+2I don't think I've heard of another case involving legal threats over simply saying someone else is hosting torrents that point to copyrighted content. That's three degrees of separation from the illicit content.
  • kweee, on 10/11/2007, -11/+4Scholastic kills Hermione.
  • flashback99, on 10/11/2007, -10/+20yes let's condemn every company that tries to make money and protect its business interests.

    Better yet, let's decide for them how much profit is acceptable.
    • ronaldinho, on 10/11/2007, -3/+8sounds like a good idea
      • DangerMouse9, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1It really does. Damn them and their stupid hats.
    • WoollyMittens, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4They can do whatever the hell they want, but they can't make up laws. As far as I know reporting the leak as news is protected free speech.
    • dn11, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1i don't thing Scholastic is going to lose money over grainy photographs
  • feshmania, on 10/11/2007, -9/+19I think that everyone is missing the point that something that is Scholastic and, more important, JK Rowling's property is being stolen and released before it is supposed to be. And that's, well, illegal.
    • Alpione, on 10/11/2007, -6/+4You've got to realize that theft is condoned here...

      (Cue the "it's not theft, nothing is being taken from them" crowd with even less morals than brains..)
      • kazamx, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2I downloaded it, I read it. My book will be delivered from play.com on Saturday.

        Yes I cheated, but no, they didn't lose a penny from me.
    • scotus, on 10/11/2007, -0/+21yeah but its not illegal to write about the fact that that happened, or even show a little bit to explain that it's real.
      • mrgreen4242, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5Exactly, the douchebaggery here is sending a take-down notice to a site talking about what has happened. It's like trying to sue a newspaper for reporting on a crime that's already taken place.
    • AndrewJC, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6scotus is absolutely correct here: There is no possible way that this isn't considered fair use. Reporting about a story like this doesn't infringe on ANYTHING, and even if you were to include one of the photos, it's absolutely Fair Use infringement.

      Scholastic, as polite as they are being, has absolutely no claim to this. In fact, that guy could be brought up on perjury charges for stating that an article such as this is infringement.
    • danakin, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Showing one page is hardly illegal.
    • falstaff, on 10/11/2007, -0/+9Two issues:

      1) the leaking to BT is absolutely illegal, and in many cases, I support the rights of the owner to stop it. Software especially (basically a perfect replica), movies sort of (usually somewhat lower quality, and requires some extra work to get it viewable on your living room TV), but books are nearly unreadable on a monitor. Nobody downloads a book in lieu of buying it. These people would either not buy it regardless, or will end up buying a copy anyway. The BT leak means almost nothing. Try to stop it if you like, but good luck with that. And realize that you'll never make back in sales what you spend in lawyer fees.

      2) Merely linking to the fact that it's been leaked is not nearly the same thing. If the leak is a fairly minor thing, then reporting about it is completely harmless. Take-downs like this are a waste of time at best, and harassment at worst.
      • ApplCmptrDood, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1I read the whole thing, cover to cover, because I got sucked in (and I have really good eyesight). I am buying a book, and am considering buying another just to make up for my immorality. I feel bad for breaking the anticipation for myself, but what's done is done.
    • WoollyMittens, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Yes. You are right, but reporting this as news is not illegal.
  • olddirtycr, on 10/11/2007, -8/+1Isn't harry potter mostly targeted towards young teens/kids who wouldn't even know what bittorrent is and most likely don't even know a leak happened, so I doubt the sales of the book will be even scratched.
  • johnpaul191, on 10/11/2007, -2/+5seriously.... i don't know how much the harry potter book costs, but anyone that wants to read a 700 page book photographed into a massive PDF document is insane. you'll probably need glasses after trying that, and a bottle of advil. i can only assume that people 1) want to know who dies then just wait for the movie, and 2) just want it to say they have it.
    • FurtThePirate, on 10/11/2007, -2/+1I for one am going to get it just to say that I have it, I really don't think I would want to read it on a screen though.
      • whiterussian, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Since you're not going to read it anyway, an even better idea would be to just say you have it and not even download it.
        • DangerMouse9, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0An even better idea would be to convince everyone else to not buy the book.
    • aadnk, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1It's being transcribed as we speak (10 chapters and counting).
  • TheFederalist, on 10/11/2007, -2/+3I believe people should be supporting and respecting copyright laws. The people involved in the creation/production of songs, books, and movies put a lot of money and work into it. They deserve to get paid just like everyone else. However, I will not hesitate to screw over a company who is trying to screw over people, to make a point.
    • Misanthrope, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1Don't you know? Everything should be free! We're all entitled to have things for free because we know how to use the internets.
    • WoollyMittens, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1You guys all, either forgot to read the article (again) or completely missed the point. Offcourse spreading the book is illegal, but this story is about sites reporting on the theft being threatened with lawsuits.
  • Dhalsim007, on 10/11/2007, -4/+4So um, does this mean by this CAD letter than the book on BitTorrent is in fact, the real thing? Because Rowling has said in the past that she is OK with fan fiction on the web.
  • viruz, on 10/11/2007, -17/+10Harry lives to marry Ginny they have a son names James
    Ron and Hermione get married
    Neville becomes a teachers of herbs
    Snape Dies
    The End
    • shredswithpiks, on 10/11/2007, -3/+2SPOILERS!!!!
      • DangerMouse9, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0yeah, I didn't think it was going to end either. DAMN YOU VIRUZ for telling me it ended.
  • lburgguy, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3See, I'm the kind who would download something like this just to see what all the fuss is about and then after liking it (presumably) I would then go out and buy the entire series of books.
    • kazamx, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5Its the best book so far IMHO. There is no need to spend alot of time introducing new characters, we already know most of them.

      This is it. All the hiding, all the lies all the waiting is over. The magical world is at War. This is when you see What Mcgonigal, and the rest of the teachers are really capable of. This is where you find out if the DA really has the heart for a fight. When the call is given who will come, who will hide.

      Its not the greatest book ever, but I read those dam stupid jpeg pics because I couldn't stop.
      • xaxxon, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2It wasn't so bad if you had a decent photo program to increase contrast/reduce exposure. I used iphoto and it did a pretty good job. There were probably only 6-8 pages I couldn' read. I don't *think* I missed anything. Anyway, I'll just go back and make sure when I get the book this weekend.
  • TrevorBelmont, on 10/11/2007, -2/+27"Dear Public Library,
    It has come to the attention of Schoolastic Inc. that you have been distributing multiple copies of the Harry Potter series without charge and without our consent. We demand that you immediately cease and desist said distribution. We hope to rectify this problem without coming down there and wrecking up the place.
    Sincerely,
    Mark S. Seidenfeld
    Counsel
    Scholastic Inc.
  • Scyth3, on 10/11/2007, -0/+8I run a few rather popular p2p news sites -- trust me -- this happens a lot. I just forward them to a lawyer and then the lawyer politely responds with "linking isn't a crime".
  • echeski1, on 10/11/2007, -1/+5The funny thing is that the only people who are going to actually take the time to go and download the book and read it online are the same fans that are so into Harry Potter that they already pre-ordered the book months ago (lets be honest the causual Harry Potter reader is not going to care about the book for download a few days before release). Honestly Scholastic needs to calm the ***** down and try to use this massive PR opportunity as a way to further promote the book. Instead of trying to stop torrents and those talking about them (which is impossible) what they should saying is "look how popular our new Harry Potter book is."

  • theratdotus, on 10/11/2007, -7/+1so really...8 people die, there are two marriages, and harry has 3 kids with mimzy?
  • bluejays47, on 10/11/2007, -6/+7"This has a chilling effect on free speech."

    Really? Being told to stop promoting illegal activity has a chilling effect on free speech? Good lord.

    Regardless of how effective Scholastic is being in going after leakers, this hand-wringing is ridiculous.
    • TrevorBelmont, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3I would call this "reporting" not "promoting." I think trying to stop people from writing about things that are happening is "chilling".
  • linkin1, on 10/11/2007, -4/+8If they have sent it to Digg.com, Kevin would be having a violent diarrhea and quickly removing every post containing "harry potter"
  • gnixon70, on 10/11/2007, -1/+0Who the hell is going to read a picture of a book anyway?
  • kinerry, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2The fingers in those photographs are of a woman....did JK leak this herself for the free publicity?

    I'm actually interested in getting into the series after this leak.
  • Fhwqhgads, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1Nice job Scholastic *****. You've brought more attention to this that would otherwise not be as big a story.

    Now you might lose a few more bucks out of your billions. Cry me a river and let me swim in it.
  • Corderoy, on 10/11/2007, -2/+0It irritates me, but makes me laugh that this publishing company, along with Bloomsberry, are acting so childish about this book. I mean, there's much more serious matters in the world today, but Oh No'z!! A few invidiuals read the book early. Oh, because it's such a sin to read this book before it's release? You don't see other publishing company's acting so bitchy when a latest Stephen King is released early. Do they honestly think Harry Potter will save reading? It's a good book, but if you notice, it's pratically the ONLY book that's making bigger headlines.

    Once Deathly Hallows is released and done and said with, then that's it. Everyone will go back to their video games and movies. Reading just isnt as effective in today's society as it used to be. I wish Scholastic/Bloomsberry/J.K Routypants would realize that. Stop wasting lawsuits on inane cases such as these. I'll probably get a message from Scholastic to take my comment down. Because God forbid I have an opinion. I hate people.
  • sofong, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2The New York Times bought a copy the 18th at a bookstore http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/19/books/19potter.html?_r=1 The publisher is bonkers and instead of threatening bloggers, should be seeking refund for the $20 million they spent trying to keep it under wraps. The entire thing just amps up people's desire to get a copy of the printed book in their hands. Wouldn't surprise me a bit if they planned it themselves.
    • brainScan, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1SPOILER ALERT: The NYTimes review does actually have a couple of spoilers... well, things that confirmed my hunches and one thing that I didn't know.
  • ra2bk, on 10/11/2007, -1/+0JK Rowling is making this a big deal because she does not want "innocent" people to be spoiled. Scholastic is acting on her behalf not their own greedy interests.
  • Shinig4mi, on 10/11/2007, -1/+0FTA: "They’re trying to shoot the messenger, and this kind of stuff has a chilling effect on free speech."

    THIS IS SPARTAAAA!!!!

    (yeah, this is the 1st thing that crossed my mind... lame, but I know I am not the only one, lol)
    • carbonfree314, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0Actually, you are the only one.
  • j4nj1m3n3z, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1well scholastic i obviously pissed since this book was supposed to sell huge amounts of copies, well, because its the last book. maybe even more than the other books sold
  • dsthunder, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1haha they havent done a damn thing...
    http://www.techcrunch.com.nyud.net:8080/2007/07/17/the-latest-harry-potter-book-hits-bittorrent/
  • b3mus3d, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1I don't understand how takedown notices like this work. Surely it's much like being done by the police for telling people, for example, where you can buy marijuana.

    It's not like they're anything to do with the source, they just discussed it.
  • lowerlogic, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Companies need to realize that once something gets on the internet, it is there for good. You can't put the ***** back in the horse.
  • jokerpkt, on 10/11/2007, -2/+220 years from now we aren't going to give a ***** about this book? I started early.
  • huskerdude, on 10/11/2007, -1/+0FTA: "They’re trying to shoot the messenger, and this kind of stuff has a chilling effect on free speech."

    What a ***** load. This is not a free speech issue in the slightest. It's _stolen property_ that someone has posted on the internet.
    • n00854180t, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1You are a ***** moron, and should go jump in a fire. Discussing the fact there is copyrighted material on the Internet != copyright infringement. What you are claiming is, in effect, equivalent to claiming that newspapers that discuss a murder are guilty of that murder themselves. Grow a ***** brain.
  • Hangender, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Actually, Scholastic still does not understand the market relative to their business strategy.

    First, Scholastic will NOT lose any money over this, anyone who downloads a Bittorrent copy of the poor quality scan of Harry Potter will likely to buy the Hard Cover book once it comes out anyway.

    Second, the news of the leaked copies of H.P. does not harm to the consumers. Most people would prefer to wait, and buy the book on the 21 rather than reading the book ahead of time.

    As you can see, they lose absolutely no money.
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