Reaction Paper #1 Harry Potter

What are the various IP rights did she use?

J.K. Rowling used copyright, trademark and identity/personality rights in her work Harry
Potter. Copyrights mostly protects artistic works, literary works, musical works. The copyright
generally doesn’t really protect the name of the character but it protects the “works” of an author,
the literary works, dramatic works and artistic works. It protects the work and form as a whole
but it doesn’t protect the idea incorporate in the work. While the name of the characters is not
protected by copyright, they can be protected by trademark laws. Trademark protects names,
signs and design used to recognize goods or service. The name “Harry Potter” has registered
trade mark in many countries. The identity or personality rights is referred to her personality or
character. It is a great decision to use this right to protect policies so that she can control the
rights and have a good communication between the copy right of the author and the person to
contract. J.K Rowling did a great job in obtaining, licensing and registering her intellectual
property rights.
How did JK Rowling monetize her intellectual property?
She made the right decision to not designate her copyright in Harry Potter to the
publisher, she would not have achieved the profits and wealth that her writing gave rise to. It’s
because she retained ownership of copyright that she was able to license others to use the name
on merchandise, to license the making of films, and to carve out rights to licensees of her work
on a geographic basis.
Harry Potter has been registered as a trademark as have other characters, along with
many designs produced around the books’ elements. Securing such IP rights or giving others the
right to do so plays a crucial role in the income generated by the brand.
Once you own IP rights which are desirable to others to use, you may license a whole
host of businesses in exchange for royalties. Licensing increases your revenues for as long as
there is a market for your creations. And unlike physical property there is no natural limit to the
number of people to whom you can give a right to use your IP. So the revenues to be earned
from IP far exceed what you would be able to earn from investment in physical property like
land which may only be let out to one party at a time.
Consequently, JK Rowling’s creations have been used on a variety of goods and services.
The movie characters have been licensed to theme parks and other organizations, and reproduced
on many different merchandises. Licensing agreements are flexible as they allow you to license
as much or as little of your IP as you like. JK Rowling’s creations have made billion dollar
profits as a result.
Reference:
Shireen Smith | December 19, 2016. https://azrights.com/media/news-and-
media/blog/2016/12/what-jk-rowling-needed-to-know-about-intellectual-property-law/