In her much-hailed entre into the literary realm, novelist Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series is reaching epidemic proportions. I’m one of the many hanging on page after page as I turn to the end of one book and reach for another. On vacation I read Twilight. On my return I read New Moon. Labor Day weekend I finished book three, Eclipse, and am looking forward to Breaking Dawn that I’ll get from my friend and colleague Cassie in a couple of days. In case you’ve wondered: Yes, the Twilight books are about a charming, intelligent, gorgeous vampire named Edward Cullen, his adopted vampire-family, and a fellow high-school student named Bella Swan. And Edward and Bella find themselves in a very unlikely and unprecedented romance. Set in overcast Forks, Washington, Meyer takes her readers (young adults and adults alike) on a wonderful, romantic and action-packed journey. (Oh, by the way, the Cullen families don’t prey on humans. Like our subset vegetarian population, they choose to hunt animals and not humans.)

And in case the drama of the first four books isn’t enough for the readers, the fifth book now has its own action-packed story to tell. You see, a draft manuscript of book five, entitled Midnight Sun, has been illegally distributed around the Internet against the author’s wishes. This brings into fresh relief the vital importance of intellectual property and copyright law. To read the author’s first-person account, click here, and scroll to the August 28, 2008 Part II entry.

With limited manuscript drafts in existence, she can identify the source of the leak, and she has identified the personal, legal and financial impacts this action has on her work, but she also stands for others in the creative fields of art, music and writing. She writes: “Unfortunately, with the Internet, it is easy for people to obtain and share items that do not legally belong to them. No matter how this is done, it is still dishonest. This has been a very upsetting experience for me, but I hope it will at least leave my fans with a better understanding of copyright and the importance of artistic control.”

Kudos to Stephenie Meyer for taking the time to illuminate a critical point related to intellectual property among a diverse and (mostly) young audience.

At TVG, we work to protect the interests and the reputation of each of our clients, for any number of reasons. We have copyright and IP lawyers we consult with regularly to ensure our clients’ works are protected.

I’m proud of the stand Stephenie Meyer took. And while I’ll be devouring Breaking Dawn in the next few days, I’ll gladly wait for the muse to find her again so I can continue to learn Edward’s story, and I’ll refrain from reading the now-author-posted manuscript of Midnight Sun. And my disdain exists for the person who leaked the manuscript and for those who assisted. I’d rather have Ms. Meyer’s completed and best work, than your “scoop” and her disappointment and anger.