<P> For copyrighted works, excessively detailed plot summaries may result in a copyright violation . In a 1993 US fair use court case, Twin Peaks Productions vs. Publications International, it was ruled that a book about a television series constituted copyright infringement because, among other things, it contained a detailed account of "every intricate plot twist and element of character development" found in the original . According to the ruling, it is okay if a plot is "briefly described for purposes of adding significant criticism or comment about the author's plotting technique", but may constitute a copyright violation if it "goes far beyond merely identifying their basic outline for the transformative purposes of comment or criticism" and instead simply "recount (s) for its readers precisely the plot details" of a fictional work . </P> <P> A similar case was Warner Bros. and J.K. Rowling vs. RDR Books, in which RDR Books had sought to publish a detailed encyclopedic guide to the Harry Potter series . Warner Bros. and Rowling won the suit, with the verdict citing that The Lexicon's verbatim copying of...highly aesthetic expression raises a significant question as to whether it was reasonably necessary for the purpose of creating a useful and complete reference guide . The verdict affirmed that such guides to fiction can fall under United States fair use law, but should avoid excessive use of creative expression to avoid copyright infringement . </P> <P> Some care should be taken not to provide a point - by - point description of the plot, but instead to provide an overview, appropriate to give the reader a general understanding of the work, but not intended to replace the work itself . Even in out - of - copyright works, a very detailed plot summary should only be used on sub-pages intended to cover sourced literary criticism or analysis of the plot and characters, where the extended plot summary can be used to assist the reader in understanding the discussion . </P> <P> Wikipedia has yet to have any legal action taken against it for copyright violations . It is expected that if such did occur, the general counsel for the Wikimedia Foundation would inform the community of such actions . </P>

The plot is the same as the works content