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Harry Potter Drinking Game

hansschmucker said:
Uhm... you're aware that such a blatant copyright violation is actually a felony in many countries, right?
Click to expand...

Im actually quite uncertain to the actual extent of the copyright of the Harry Potter brand, if you search "Harry Potter" on the android market (or the apple app store), there is 10+ pages of apps involving Harry Potter, none of which are official.

Code: 
https://market.android.com/details?id=magic.wand&feature=search_result

Code: 
https://market.android.com/details?id=twaapps.com.soundboard.activity&feature=search_result

Code: 
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.kamlov.harry_potter&feature=search_result

Apart from one of them mentioning the following in the description:
"This app is not affiliated with J.K. Rowling, Bloomsbury Publishing, Scholastic Books, Warner Brothers, AOL-Time Warner, or anyone associated with the "Harry Potter" series. It is not endorsed by any of the aforementioned parties. Rights to the characters and their likenesses are neither claimed nor implied."

Am I missing something here into why these apps are ok? or are they a breach as well to your knowledge?

Many thanks
 
I'm no lawyer, but even if I use the American "Fair Use" concept, I'm pretty sure that implying affiliation (something you do if you add it to the title like this) would immediately terminate any fair-use argument that could be made. Add to that that you're using pictures from the movies and I really can't see how any judge could be persuaded to view this any other way.

The other apps are just as illegal. Just because nobody takes action doesn't mean they are legal.
 
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