Geist and Potter
More stories from our licensed future — Michael Geist on the right to read.
The line between thing and thought is getting ever blurrier. Time was when an author could do a lot to control the first sale of the thing — the book — but after that first thing left his/her control the rights to control the thing were considered exhausted. People didn't even think of trying to control the reading of the thing — much less the discussion of the thing. Now that things are joined by electronic versions of authorship, the idea of a “right to read” doesn't sound as outlandish as it used to. But it should.
The Harry Potter story told by Geist also shows the power and potential of trade secret law. If you've made an effort to keep your thoughts secret, and these thoughts are valuable because they've been kept secret, and then someone learns them and starts talking about them–you've got a trade secret claim to bring. Trade secrets can easily fill gaps left in a copyright regime (if there are any). Something can be a trade secret even if it's not copyrightable, it can last forever, and any reasonable efforts at secrecy are enough to protect it.
Do you have a license to sit on that chair?
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