A Nonlawyer's Take on a Fan-Law Issue

[heidi8]

Ken Jennings has written an analysis of the Unauthorized Seinfeld Trivia Book case from a few years back, including mentions of the related Twin Peaks and Trivial Pursuit cases. Given that WB has told Harry Potter event organizers not to create trivia games based on the contents of the books or the films, clearly at least some of The Powers That

Comments

[raisintorte]

My husband and I read this entry on his blog, and thought it was a very interesting read.

What if the book were written by one of the featured contestants and had only trivia questions that concerned his or her actions on the show?

Interesting! I think that would probably depend on the waivers/contracts s/he signed and how long they are in effect. For sure she could have a book with questions about her personal history, her take on the show, and her impressions about her cast mates and events that happened on the show. Probably she could even include things that she said and did, after the contract period has expired. Where it would get iffy is things others said and did. This would make a great final exam question.

[emzebel]

The issue of future books by reality show contestants is completely an issue of their contractual agreements - I would venture an educated guess that the vast majority of them sign agreements not to do exactly what you describe independently, but to cooperate with producer-backed ventures for a given number of years.

Some of the reality tv contracts are extremely restrictive - to the point where they venture into future restraint of trade territory.

As to the original poster's HP comments, it does not surprise me in the slightest that WB and Scholastic want to restrict any third party HP merchandise - given the amount of swag they produce and the breadth of their trademark registrations, even if copyright did not apply, any actual marketing of a HP trivia game or book would almost certainly infringe WB's HP trademarks in the US at the very least.