In response to the recent Rowling v. RDR ruling killing the Harry Potter Lexicon the Right to Write Fund, which helped defend RDR books, has offered to extend help to other artists. An obvious result of the ruling in Rowling v. RDR is increased legal threats against other artist that engage in fan fiction or other transformative practices that have been become norms in a read/write culture where everyone is empowered to publish.

Arend D. Lubbers, the former president of Grand Valley State University and a founding board member of Right to Write said:

Our goal is to make sure that creative artists are free to publish their work without censorship. We do not believe that any author or publisher should be forced to give up on important projects because they lack the financial resources to defend their First Amendment rights.

I am impressed that the Right to Write Fund has recruited some powerhouses in the legal community help artist including Stanford University Law School’s Fair Use Project and Harvard Law School’s Citizen Media Law Project.  Right to Write will work to give artists the resources they need to defend against cease and desist letters from deep pocket plaintiffs who stop works from being published.

This is the type of legal protection that is needed to enable everyone to engage in creativity regardless of their own finical standing.