The Intellectual Property of Harry Potter

Many CPAs and accounting professionals who work in intellectual property will be glad to know that the basic, ethical rules of retaining ownership held the test of time with regard to Harry Potter.

Last March, just after it was announced that a film version of the first Harry Potter story would be made, companies began registering Internet domain names - 107 to be exact - to capitalize on the success of the book and potential movie.

Time Warner, who owns the marketing rights to Harry Potter, took the matter all the way to the United Nations’ World Intellectual Property Organization, the Supreme Court of intellectual property matters.

As a result of hearing the case, the U.N. gave Time Warner ownership of the domain names. The entire matter is known as "cybersquatters," or companies who purchase--at a nominal price--domain names and then try to sell them later for a much higher fee.

Details about the specific story [1] can be found on MSNBC.