don't look now, your potter is leaking...

a store in british columbia 'accidentally' sold 14 copies of the new harry potter book earlier this week. seems they had it in the store room and some over zealous (or snoozing) employee took the liberty of putting it out on the shelf. of course the store removed the copies as soon as the mistake was realized - but not before 14 copies were sold.

a judge has ordered the lucky buyers to not talk about anything they may have read, has ordered the return of the books to the distributor (they'll get them back on saturday when they officially go on sale) and as a 'thank you' the publisher will give them a jk rowling signature.

uhh - sorry - but since when were release dates of albums and books the domain of our justice system??? i have spent many many years working in both music and in copyright - but c'mon folks... what sort of infringement is this? an infringement on the right to market something to the gills? i think the worse that should happen is that the employee at the store who shelved the copies gets a reprimand for not listening. the clerks who sold the copies should get a stern talking to. and the publisher should contact the buyers and request them not to talk about what they've read and as a guesture - offer them free goodies. sheesh.

[music | hot hot heat, "bandages"]