Case Study Of Me Meg Murry's 'Magic Hatching'

QUESTION PRESENTED

Whether an author who creates a children’s fantasy book with familiar charterers known to the genre is liable for copyright infringement under 17 U.S.C. § 101 when the author or common third party had no access the alleged infringed work and when the protectable elements between the works are not substantially similar.

STATEMENT OF THE CASE This is a case about an innovative author who wrote a children’s fantasy book. Murry completed the first chapter of Magic Hatching in March 2015 and completed the book by July 2015. Like most books of the fantasy genre, both explore a fantasy-land with castles, dragons, wizards, and a moral to the story. Are these books common? Yes. But are they so common that it would be mistaken for the same book? No. Murry’s book is about time travel whereas Downer’s book is about a power struggle. Meg Murry is being accused of infringing on Ann Downer’s copyright children’s fantasy book, published May 2015.

Murry has written several reviews for books, films, and museums and has dreamed of creating her own children’s book. Over the years, Meg could not finish a book so she decided to take a course at Arbor Community College called: Fiction Writing for the Youth Market, How to Get Started, taught by Tess Whatsit. (R. 31). Whatsit taught at Arbor Community College from 2004 through 2015 and taught Meg Murry for eight weeks from the middle of January 2015 until the middle of March 2015. (R. 18). At the same time, Tess Whatsit had been an editor at Atheneum Books for Young Readers from about 1987 until 2015 when she opened her book packager, Watermark Books, a liaison between authors and publishers, in which she is founder and president. (R.