PR - Injunction Against Early Disclosure and Reviews of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Canada News Wire, ArriveNet ^ | 7/10/05 | Jamie Broadhurst

[BigEdLB]

Raincoast Books Obtains Injunction Against Early Disclosure and Reviews of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

VANCOUVER, July 11 /CNW/ - Raincoast Books announced today that they were successful in obtaining a court injunction regarding Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. The eagerly awaited sixth volume in the best-selling series is being released in Canada at one minute past midnight local time on July 16th, 2005.

Madam Justice Gill of the Supreme Court of British Columbia granted to Raincoast Books Distribution Ltd., Bloomsbury Plc and JK Rowling, a John/Jane Doe injunction against the copying or disclosing of all or any part of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince or any information derived therefrom including without limitation the story, plot or characters of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince to any person prior to 12:01 a.m. local time on July 16th.

The case was brought to the Supreme Court of British Columbia on Saturday July 9th, 2005 as the result of a limited breach of the on-sale retail embargo date that involved a single location. The court ordered the return to Raincoast of any copies that have fallen into the hands of unauthorized persons owing to the breach. The court instructed "...anyone who has directly or indirectly received a copy or any other form of disclosure of Harry Potter No. 6 from John/Jane Does to deliver to the plaintiff Raincoast Books Distribution Ltd. forthwith any and all copies of Harry Potter No. 6 in their possession..."

"Raincoast and Bloomsbury, along with our global partners, have promised fans of Harry Potter that we would do our best to ensure that they would be the first to discover the secrets contained within Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince on July 16th," said Jamie Broadhurst Director of Marketing for Raincoast Books, "and we felt that we had to take all necessary legal action to keep our promise to Canadian fans."

Raincoast also announced that it would reward the small number of consumers who had inadvertently purchased at the store in question an early copy of the book, if they returned their copy to Raincoast immediately. Raincoast has issued a notice to the public requesting the immediate return of copies purchased early with details of the special commemorative gift they will receive in return for their cooperation (see below: Important Notice to All Harry Potter Fans). Raincoast has promised to restore any books returned to it to the relevant individuals at 12:01 a.m. local time on July 16th. "It is not the intention of Raincoast to penalize the small group of fans who have innocently purchased a book in good faith. We look to them to ensure that the excitement and mystery of the story is preserved for fans around the world until July 16th by cooperating with us and observing the terms of the court injunction."

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is a joint publishing venture in Canada between Raincoast Books Ltd. of Vancouver, British Columbia and Bloomsbury Plc of London, England. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will go on sale in Canada and all other major English language markets around the world Saturday July 16th. The injunction notice can be viewed at: http://raincoast.com/harrypotter/injunction.html

Any legal inquiries should be directed to:

Toronto: Barbara Grossman Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP - Toronto Direct Tel no. (416) 863-4417 Fax no. (416) 863-4592 barbara.grossman@fmc-law.com

Vancouver: Clayton W. Caverly Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP-Vancouver Direct Tel no. (604) 443-7126 Fax no. (604) 683-5214 clayton.caverly@fmc-law.com

Anyone who has purchased or otherwise obtained a copy of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince before the publication date of July 16th should contact Raincoast immediately at 1-800-663-5714 or 604-323-7100. After hours please contact 604-968-0027 or 604-841-9206 or info@raincoast.com.

THE ORDER - (GAWD WHAT WOULD WE DO WITHOUT OUR NORTHERN NEIGHBORS?)

IMPORTANT NOTICE July 9, 2005 Vancouver, B.C.

You are hereby notified that on July 9th, 2005, at approximately 4:30 Pacific daylight time, the Honourable Madam Justice Gill granted a John and Jane Doe restraining order to Raincoast Books, Bloomsbury Publishing PLC and JK Rowling in the Supreme Court of British Columbia. The court ordered an injunction;

(i) restraining John/Jane Does and anyone who has directly or indirectly received a copy or any other form of disclosure of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by JK Rowling (“Harry Potter #6”) from John/Jane Does and anyone who is given notice of the order from copying or disclosing all or any part of Harry Potter #6 or any information derived therefrom including without limitation the story, plot or characters of Harry Potter #6 to any person prior to 12:01 a.m. local time on July 16, 2005 without the consent of the Plaintiffs’ solicitors save for information which has been made the subject of any press release issued or other communication made by or on behalf of and with the authority of the Plaintiffs;

(ii) restraining John/Jane Does and anyone who is given notice of the order from displaying, reading, offering for sale, selling, exhibiting in public or without the express consent of the Plaintiffs possessing Harry Potter #6 prior to 12:01 a.m. local time on July 16, 2005;

(iii) subject to paragraph (iv) below, restraining John/Jane Does, and anyone who has directly or indirectly received a copy or any other form of disclosure of Harry Potter #6 from John/Jane Does, and anyone who is given notice of the order, from making any use of, or destroying or concealing, or without the express consent of the Plaintiffs parting with possession, power, custody or control of any copy of Harry Potter #6 or any part of it or any copies thereof or any notes or descriptions of it prior to 12:01 a.m. local time on July 16, 2005;

(iv) compelling John/Jane Does and each of them and anyone who has directly or indirectly received a copy or any other form of disclosure of Harry Potter #6 from John/Jane Does to deliver to the plaintiff Raincoast Book Distribution Ltd. forthwith any and all copies of Harry Potter #6 in their possession as well as any photocopies, photographs or electronic copies of any portion of that book and all notes or descriptions of it and to immediately delete all electronic copies of any part of that book in their possession or under their control.

A certified copy of the formal order is available upon request from info@raincoast.com.

[BigEdLB]

And to think we have problems with judges here?

Ban reading the book? If I were into Harry, I'd say, "Try and stop me!"

[AbeKrieger]

This is so very important, I am glad a judge had to take some time out of their schedule to make such a ruling.

[Question Liberal Authority]

I just hope and pray that nobody flushes one of these down the toilet.

[exnavychick]

Another one for the ping list...can you tell we're getting closer?

*rubbing hands together gleefully*

[retrokitten]

Potter Ping!!

And mugglenet.com has a very interesting article about a mysterious ring that may give away the identity of the Half-Blood Prince! (thanks to tiredoflaundry for directing me there)

[retrokitten]

I know!! I'm getting so excited!

[Junior]

I've got my pre-order coupon from the local BAM, and I plan on spending Friday night (after the season premier of Battlestar Galactica, of course) down there enjoying the festivities and taking pictures of the protesters.

[r9etb]

Nah. Seamus ain't the HBP. My money's on Dumbledore's brother Aberforth....

Off-topic: Given that Voldemort is now a blood relative of Harry Potter, do you suppose that Harry's immune to being killed by him?

And even more off-topic: my money's on Dumbledore getting killed at the end of Book 6. How else can we set the stage for a truly suspenseful Book 7?

[Petronski]

Publicity stunt.

[r9etb]

LOL!

It's a lot of fun being in the midst of this hoopla -- now I know how it must have felt to be one of the folks who were waiting to find out the fate of Little Nell in Dickens's The Old Curiosity Shop.

[retrokitten]

Oh you have to post them!!

[Junior]

The bookstores go all out around here. The staff dresses up as characters from the books; they bring in face painters for the kids and have little contests with some little gee gaws as prizes. Huntsville/Decatur, Alabama, has the largest concentration of engineers (read "geeks") in the entire country and most of them are really into this stuff. The local Baptist Churches consider HP to be the work of the Devil, but that doesn't stop large portions of their congregations from showing up for these big book releases.

[Junior]

If they turn out, I'll make a page on my website and put them there. It'll up my geek cred...

[r9etb]

Yeah ... I'm headed for a local midnight opening here, too. Sounds like the same sorta party atmosphere. The kids will probably dress up. I will too, come to that -- I'll be the guy who looks like a muggle. ;-)

And then I'll have to go to a faculty meeting on Saturday morning, so I won't be able to dive right in. Sigh.... Ah, well, our second copy is supposed to come in the mail on Saturday, so maybe I'll still have a chance at it.

[WV Mountain Mama]

you for got *while laughing fiendishly* to the rubbing hands together. MAN, I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!

[Loyalist]

Harry Potter is just a test case for future book bannings--particularly those held to be "contrary to Canadian values".

[Skooz]

I bet the scene is very similar to this.

[Happy2BMe]

Don't laugh. Preaching the Bible's condemnation of homosexuality is also a crime in Canada.

[calex59]

Is there some special reason they banned the book?

[Larry Lucido]

So, it's copyright case, not a censorship case?

Can we change the title back to the original, please? There's enough real encroachment on liberties without making up more out of whole cloth.

Original title:

Raincoast Books Obtains Injunction Against Early Disclosure and Reviews of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince