There’s a nice column here by Canadian law professor Michael Geist regarding the court order in Canada that required those who’d purchased Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince too early to return the book to the bookstore, along with any notes they’d taken about its contents. Writes Geist:

The order compelled anyone with a copy of the book to return it to the publisher along with any notes and other descriptions of its contents. Moreover, it prohibited Canadians from reading or discussing any aspect of the book.

I don’t argue with the publishers’ right to seek a court order against the booksellers, ordering them to try to recover books sold too early. After all, the booksellers are obligated under a contract with the publishers to prohibit distribution until a certain date. But ordinary citizens (even Canadian citizens) are not under any similar contractual obligation to the publishers. The buyers acted lawfully in obtaining the book, and shouldn’t be subject to a court order such as that described by Professor Geist. The attempts to ground the court in trade secret and copyright law are also particularly overreaching.

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