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MARCH 3, 2008 at 2:59 PM
Posted by CHEESER
Source: Canadian Press
Winnipeg, Canada folk music group Wyrd Sisters are continuing their two-year-old battle
with Warner Bros. over the similarly named (but alternately spelled) band in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, even though the group failed to halt the 2005 film's release and Warner Bros. removed all mention of it from the movie.
The folk group -- which attempted to trademark "Wyrd Sisters" in 2005 (its status remains "opposed") -- is now demanding that all remaining DVDs, video games and other merchandise that reference The Weird Sisters be destroyed. Kim Baryluk, the group's founder, said that included the film's soundtrack, the Harry Potter Scene-It DVD game, and trading cards.
"Consumers will assume that the smaller and less famous Canadian band is trying to take advantage of the Harry Potter fame by copying the Harry Potter band's name when in fact the reverse is true," Baryluk said in her statement of claim to the Federal Court of Canada in Toronto.
An Ontario Supreme Court judge previously ordered Baryluk to pay $140,000 in court costs to Warner Bros. for the failed attempt to block Goblet of Fire from being released to theaters in 2005. That payment has not been made.
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Prefect
Points: 367
Big_D says:
Give it a rest! The Warner Brothers will never let that happen. As Bethanie Hart says the Weird Sisters are also in Shakespeares Macbeth so it does not really matter just let them drop the case.
iheartlockhart
Posted Mar 3, 2008 at 8:17 PM EST
Muggle
Points: 30
Lizatamoore says:
I think they're just making their name look even worse. Harry Potter is such a huge pop culture phenomenon and they're a little known Canadian folk band. Seriously, I'd be glad if people saw anything even close to referencing me in the books or movies. I'm pretty sure their goal is to get people to listen to their music through all the publicity and the sad thing is it actually makes me want to hear it.
They seriously won't win as their case is still preposterous. What's next? They'll sue anyone who publishes Shakespeare?
Posted Mar 3, 2008 at 8:45 PM EST
Witch
Points: 983
Weasleyismyking!/R/Hrfrv says:
Give it a rest already. This is just blah.
Posted Mar 3, 2008 at 9:41 PM EST
Mistress of Music
Points: 8865
ViolaNut says:
Sheesh. I suppose this is the definition of "pointless persistence", yes? :-P As mentioned, Shakespeare and Pratchett used forms of the name before, and I seem to remember Pratchett being pretty anti-JKR (at least at some point) and even he never brought up that name. I could see, say... Eric Idle going after Toad the Wet Sprocket for taking that name (which is brilliantly insane, but anyway...) from one of his sketches, or something like that, but this is ridiculous. Which everyone has said. So I'm not sure why I'm saying it too. *shrug*
Posted Mar 3, 2008 at 10:10 PM EST
Sirius's Veil Thrower
Points: 4655
SiriusBlacksGodDaughter says:
That's idiotic, they need to give it up; it's been two years and they're not going to win!
~Drish~
Posted Mar 3, 2008 at 10:37 PM EST
Auror
Points: 4080
RON's all up in heRmiONe says:
This is absolutley stupid. I can see why they're angry at the WB and Warner Bros., but seriously! Someone on here might or might have not said this(I didn't read all the comments), but the names are spelled differently, so, technically, can't they not sue the WB and JK Rowling because their band's name is the "Wyrd Sisters", and the band in Harry Potter is called the "Weird Sisters"?
I think they're either doing this because they actually believe that JK Rowling did something wrong, or they want the media attention. I hope they don't actually think they're going to win, that's just sheer stupidity!
Posted Mar 3, 2008 at 11:00 PM EST
Witch
Points: 614
Harry_Hermoine_Fanz says:
I hope they can stop battling about this problem!
<333333
Posted Mar 3, 2008 at 11:46 PM EST
Auror
Points: 2645
Tokio Hotel Fan says:
Gosh they justed don't give up. My goodess it not that big in the moive so why is this band so werryed about it. Gosh they just need to get over it.
Posted Mar 4, 2008 at 12:43 AM EST
Witch
Points: 525
Elphaba Thropp says:
Seriously? People need to get lives!!!!!! Ugh...I hated the GoF movie, but cripes. Give it a rest.
Posted Mar 4, 2008 at 1:13 AM EST
Witch
Points: 958
Ron+Hermione says:
This is ridiculous!! I think these people need to just forget about it, its just a publicity stunt some people listen to their music, who ever heard of the WYrd sisters before this anyhow? i just think the whole thing it stupid and this band needs to stop wasting other peoples time.
Posted Mar 4, 2008 at 1:53 AM EST
Prefect
Points: 387
diva_alix says:
This might have been said already, but these people are illiterate and lame. Anyone who's been to high school know that Rowling's "Weird Sisters" are a reference to the Witches from Shakespeare's Macbeth. You can't sue people for referencing Shakespeare.
Posted Mar 4, 2008 at 2:38 AM EST
Auror
Points: 2860
mad_eye muggle says:
Man....this is going totally crazy.Why don't they just let it be.Its not like a big deal or some sort.Its just a publicity stunt there trying to go about.
Posted Mar 4, 2008 at 2:56 AM EST
Head Girl
Points: 495
ayashe says:
Wyrd Sisters to me seems more like "wired" sisters.
"Consumers will assume that the smaller and less famous Canadian band is trying to take advantage of the Harry Potter fame by copying the Harry Potter band's name when in fact the reverse is true," Baryluk said in her statement of claim to the Federal Court of Canada in Toronto."
Actually that statement reversed would be that the Harry Potter's fame is trying to take advantage of a smaller and less famous Canadian band, which doesn't make sense.
Posted Mar 4, 2008 at 3:04 AM EST
Order of Merlin, 4th Class
Points: 1384
Luna! says:
Sorry, I just thought that that statement was amusing.
The folk group is now demanding that all remaining DVDs, video games and other merchandise that reference The Weird Sisters be destroyed. Kim Baryluk, the group's founder, said that included the film's soundtrack, the Harry Potter Scene-It DVD game, and trading cards.
Oh, okay. I'll just hand over my harry potter merchandise for you so you can destroy them.
Yeah, hpana, and all the other fan sites, including J.K's site will arrange for everyone to just send in merchandise or they'll post a little 'DIY' forum so you can burn your own stuff.
Also whenever they mention 'The Weird Sisters' in the books I'll just get out a pen and scribble it out for them aswell.
I mean seriously. All merchandise will be destroyed. What are they going to do? Raid people's homes and search for their band name in the books or trading cards?
I mean, no offence, but like it matters to a small band that hardly anyone knows.
It's like this shop, down here in Aus, it was originally called 'Harry Potter' but she had to change it because of J.K. got a court case against her, so she changed it to 'Wombat'.
I mean, what's Jo going to do? Just change her book THAT'S INTERNATIONALLY FAMOUS! for a small little clothing branch?
But I still found that little bit funny though.
Posted Mar 4, 2008 at 4:52 AM EST
Student
Points: 285
NicoleHalliwell says:
I really creep myself out sometimes! I was just thinking about them the other day and wondering if they stopped trying to sue Warner Bros. Well obviously my question has been answered. This is ridiculous what they are doing. What happened to "Fictional names that have been used that have any resemblance to actual persons, place, ect. are purely coincidental." (I do not have the exact wording). You usually see this at the end credits of movies and books as well.
A two year battle? I think it is time to give up "Wyrd Sisters;" you are giving the real "Weird Sisters" a bad name!!
Posted Mar 4, 2008 at 5:13 AM EST
Auror
Points: 2363
Nataly says:
"demanding that all remaining DVDs, video games and other merchandise that reference The Weird Sisters be destroyed. " that's insane! They are never gonna win the case
Posted Mar 4, 2008 at 7:53 AM EST
Prefect
Points: 335
x_loony_lovegood_x says:
That is so ridiculous. Why are they doing that, I'd be over the moon if I was mentioned in Harry Potter. THey just attention seekers and we should all ignore them.
Posted Mar 4, 2008 at 8:28 AM EST
Squib
Points: 152
ElvenLuna says:
This is laughable. What a load of rubbish. It's got a different spelling and it isn't too hard to come up with this band name for a fantasy book. Seriously?! Argh. If I were them, I would be happy that there is a reference of my band's name in the Harry Potter books.
Posted Mar 4, 2008 at 11:11 AM EST
Witch
Points: 863
CursedForever says:
This is ridiculous. There is no chance of any merchandise being destroyed; they should just give it up, the Harry Potter industry is too big for them to make any kind of impact. "The Weird Sisters" is nothing like "The Wyrd Sisters" - how was J.K. supposed to know about their band when she wrote the book, anyway?
Posted Mar 4, 2008 at 11:26 AM EST
Auror
Points: 2445
Rebel says:
Luna, I think they wanted any unsold merchandise to be destroyed.
I think that their argument was against WB rather than JKR, and that they wanted WB to leave the name out of the movie in the first place.
I think that their imagined fear was someone skimming Cd's would see "Wyrd Sisters" and thinking "wasn't that that crappy band in that crappy Harry Potter film--no way am I buying that."
If you are a big enough HP fan to remember the band's name (that is only mentioned a couple of times between the movie and the books), then you will probably also remember the spelling...and figure out that they are different.
All that being said, are there any Canadians on here (especially if you are from Winnipeg) who had heard about "The Wyrd Sister" before this court case, or have heard anything about the not related to the case after the original suit?
Posted Mar 4, 2008 at 12:25 PM EST
Wizard
Points: 630
Aberforth Puckle says:
Isn't this a bit like when Microsoft tried to claim that the word "windows" was there property? It's not exactly a highly original name.
But maybe they have a point - after all as a consumer, I am now assuming that the reason for their suit is to gain fame by riding off HPs fame...
Posted Mar 4, 2008 at 12:58 PM EST
Vampire
Points: 2939
Dansgirl34 says:
Seriously why can't they just give it up already? They have no case. I would stop before I made myself look more stupid.
Posted Mar 4, 2008 at 1:35 PM EST
Rickmaniac to the Core
Points: 2564
snaily says:
They could do with some publicity! Why are they making such a huge issue out of it? Oh, well, this is publicity!
And by the way, I don't think Warner Bros will shell out that amount of money!
Posted Mar 4, 2008 at 2:02 PM EST
Order of Merlin, 2nd Class
Points: 1647
Hermione's younger sister says:
I was thinking that there was a band like that. Maybe I was thinking of the Wierd Sisters like from Macbeth. I think it is stupid, why would JK care about a small band in Canada?!
Posted Mar 4, 2008 at 2:06 PM EST
Wizard
Points: 874
Silly Dragon says:
Pointless claims from that folk band. It's Weird Sisters in the book anyway, and trying to sue Warner Bros. for a matter of vowels will not help increase their popularity. I shall once more express my disgust at reading that music is being discussed in terms of market and property rather than in terms of music. I like their way of showing J.K.R. as a nasty and cruel profit-maker. Nonsense, really.
Posted Mar 4, 2008 at 2:12 PM EST
Weird Sisters Bassist
Points: 8449
Paper Cut says:
It's stupid they're carrying on with it really, because the Weird Sisters don't return in any future films and the name wasn't even mentioned in the fourth film.
It is blatantly obvious they're just doing it for the money and publicity. If I read Harry Potter and then stumbled across this band purely by coincidence, I would think it was really interesting that the names were similar. And I've studied Macbeth so I would know it's not just JKR's term, (it is infact an old English tradional term, so it makes more sense for her to use it than a Canadian group!) and I would probably look into this band and hear their music.
Now they've been thrust upon everyone and no one wants to hear their music now, because they're making such a big fuss over nothing!
Posted Mar 4, 2008 at 2:36 PM EST
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