The Volokh Conspiracy - She Says That as If It's a Bad Thing:

From a Reuters article about the Harry Potter publisher's reaction to book reviews published before the book officially went on sale:

A Bloomsbury spokeswoman called the New York Times review "very sad", adding that there was only one day to wait until the official release in book stores around the world. Twelve million copies of the book have been printed for the U.S. market alone.

She likened the events in the United States to the Boston Tea Party, a 1773 protest by American colonists against Britain....

Tip: That doesn't sound as pejorative on our side of the pond as it might on yours.

In any case, here's the Times' substantive response:

"Our feeling is that once a book is offered up for sale at any public, retail outlet, and we purchase a copy legally and openly, we are free to review it," a [New York Times] spokeswoman said.

"We came across a copy of 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows' at a store in New York City and we bought it...."

	[Eugene Volokh, July 20, 2007 at 6:22pm] Trackbacks She Says That as If It's a Bad Thing: From a Reuters article about the Harry Potter publisher's reaction to book reviews published before the book officially went on sale: A Bloomsbury spokeswoman called the New York Times review "very sad", adding that there was only one day to wait until the official release in book stores around the world. Twelve million copies of the book have been printed for the U.S. market alone. She likened the events in the United States to the Boston Tea Party, a 1773 protest by American colonists against Britain.... Tip: That doesn't sound as pejorative on our side of the pond as it might on yours. In any case, here's the Times' substantive response: "Our feeling is that once a book is offered up for sale at any public, retail outlet, and we purchase a copy legally and openly, we are free to review it," a [New York Times] spokeswoman said. "We came across a copy of 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows' at a store in New York City and we bought it...."