NationsCourts

WantPublishing.com
Featuring Online Court Directories and Alerts on New Cases
as They Are Filed and "Harry Potter & the Order of the Court"

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NationsCourts.com, a service of WANT Publishing Co., closely follows activity in the federal and state courts, offering online directories of judges and clerks of court and reporting on new litigation filed in courts around the country. Our Quick-Link Court Directory provides speedy access to the nation's courts. Our Case Filings Library and Case Filings Alert services report on new cases as they are filed in federal and state courts, alerting you to important new litigation you may have missed. Our new publication -- Harry Potter & the Order of the Court: The J.K. Rowling Copyright Case and the Question of Fair Use -- is of interest to Harry Potter fans and the general public, including attorneys, writers and bloggers.

Case Filings Library
(Featuring Instant Download of Recently-Filed Court Documents)

We specialize in reporting on important new cases you may have missed. Case Filings Library follows-up on a selected few of the new cases reported on in Case Filings Alert (see below) several months after the case was first noted in Alert and provides the complaint and defendant's answer or memorandum on motion to dismiss, available for immediate download. These basic documents give you the issues involved in the case and attorneys for both sides. This service is of interest not only to attorneys but also to journalists and writers and all those interested in court documents and the wealth of information they provide. The cost for immediate download is $25.00 per case. You do not need to be an Alert subscriber. For a list of cases available for immediate download through Case Filings Library, click here.

Case Filings Alert™

Case Filings Alert reports on new cases as they are filed in courts around the country, alerting you to important new litigation that you may have missed. For each case reported on, complete docket information is given plus case summary and full complaint. A one-of-a-kind reference source, it includes new filings in Antitrust/Unfair Trade, Consumer Fraud, Equal Employment, Intellectual Property, Products Liability and other areas. New case filings are added each week (within a week of their actual filing) to an archive of over 1000 cases filed during the past 18-month period. View Sample Here. Annual Subscription: $95 for individual user; $195 for office network (single office); $295 for office network (multiple offices). To subscribe, please fill out and return Subscription Order Form. Subscriber Login: NationsCourts.com.. .

Quick-Link™ Court Directory

Quick-Link Court Directory offers quick-and-easy online access to the nation's courts, including court websites, federal appellate and district judges (plus bankruptcy and magistrate judges), and federal, state and county clerks of court including addresses and phone numbers. Also included are federal judicial nominations and confirmations as they occur and state court organization charts. An excellent court reference and time-saver whether you have an occasional or frequent need to contact the courts. View Sample Here. Annual Subscription: $95.00 for individual user; $195 for office network (single office); $295 for office network (multiple offices). To subscribe, please fill out and return by fax or postal mail the Subscription Order Form. Subscriber Login: NationsCourts.com.

Harry Potter & the Order of the Courts:
The J.K. Rowling Copyright Case and the Issue of Fair Use

Available from Amazon.com
The adventures of wizard-in-training Harry Potter may have ended but the drama continues, most recently in federal court in Manhattan, where a decision has recently been handed down in the much-publicized copyright case brought by J.K. Rowling seeking to prevent the publication of a Harry Potter encyclopedia.

The case is of interest to Harry Potter fans and the general public, including attorneys, writers and bloggers.

Harry Potter & the Order of the Court discusses the court's decision and its broader implications for those who write, both online and in print.

The case was highlighted by Ms. Rowling taking the witness stand in her first courtroom appearance. Her dramatic testimony -- offering insights into her creative process and her emotional attachment to the Harry Potter series -- is included, both direct and cross-examination.

Beyond the star presence of Ms. Rowling, the case is of general interest as it involves an important but little understood aspect of copyright law: the doctrine of "fair use." Fair use refers to situations where one is allowed to use material from a copyrighted work without seeking permission from the author, such as a book critic quoting from a novel or a music critic using a short clip of a song.

Fair use applies whether you write on paper or online. But the doctrine has taken on added importance in the Internet Age where almost all of us "publish" in one form or another, be it through creating websites, writing blogs or uploading content. And as authors or publishers, we often feel the need to quote, closely paraphrase, or otherwise use material others have created. This is where fair use comes in.

Harry Potter & the Order of the Court discusses fair use as it relates to the J.K. Rowling case and in terms of the broader application of the doctrine, offering many specific examples as to what likely does, and does not, constitute fair use. Excerpt from "Introduction".

The author is Robert S. Want, an attorney and editor, and publisher of NationsCourts.com, which reports on new cases in copyright and other areas of the law. There is no affiliation with Ms. Rowling or the Harry Potter books.

Available from Amazon.com (libraries and book sellers click here)

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