the website on which the book is based, at hp-lexicon.org

Harry Potter’s battle against Voldemort lasted for seven years, and sometimes it seems as if the battle over his Lexicon will take just as long. After RDR Books, publishers of the Harry Potter Lexicon, lost a copyright infringement action brought by JK Rowling and Warner Brothers (the decision is detailed in our blog post on the subject), they originally planned to appeal the ruling. However, they have recently withdrawn their appeal, deciding instead to release a version of the book that complies with the judge’s ruling.

Rowling’s literary agency stated in a press release: “We are also pleased to hear that rather than continue to litigate, RDR have themselves decided to publish a different book prepared with reference to Judge Patterson’s decision.”

Apparently the preparation of the manuscript was not an arduous process, since it is slated for a January 12 release. The book’s author, Steve Vander Ark, has also published another book in the meantime. Though Rowling’s lawyers had asked to see a copy of it before publication, apparently it posed no similar copyright concerns (which isn’t surprising, since it’s a travel memoir).

As I speculated previously, based on the judge’s decision, a revised Lexicon would involve: (1) taking out a great deal of the material about the two Harry Potter companion books, (2) editing out most of the use of Rowling’s specific language, and (3) adding a large number of citations. It is unclear at this point just what kinds of changes have been made, but Vander Ark and RDR Books have made statements suggesting that a large amount of (presumably original) commentary has been added.

The book has been retitled as well: The Lexicon: An Unauthorized Guide to Harry Potter Fiction and Related Materials. Somehow I think a lawyer may have had a hand in that one.

– Casey Fiesler

I’ve always felt kind of sympathetic for Steve Vander Ark, but the poor guy really can’t seem to get a break. Right on the heels of his (or rather, his publisher’s, since RDR completely indemnified him) loss in court last week over the HP Lexicon, JKR’s lawyers have asked to see a copy of his upcoming travel memoir. Titled In Search of Harry Potter, the book, set to be published next month (by a different publisher) is about SVA’s travels to different locations similar to the ones in the HP books. Apparently JKR wants to be sure that this one doesn’t infringe upon her copyright, too. Maybe this is all her lawyers’ doing, but it seems like an awfully petty move at this point. I mean, she didn’t exactly win by a large margin anyway, and there’s obviously a huge difference between and encyclopedia and a travel memoir. There’s no reason that this new book would use any of her language. It’s probably just a formality, but yikes. Bad PR move, JKR.

The Harry Potter Lexicon is an online guide to the terms, people, places and anything related to Harry Potter. The site describes itself in its Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section as follows

“The Harry Potter Lexicon is a very thorough source of information about the Harry Potter books. You can find the answers to just about any question you might have somewhere in its hundreds of pages.”

The Lexicon was the second recipient of J.K. Rowling’s Fan Site Award. (Once on the site, click on the binder clip to see the Fan Site Award page.) Rowling had this to say about the site:

“This is such a great site that I have been known to sneak into an internet café while out writing and check a fact rather than go into a bookshop and buy a copy of Harry Potter (which is embarrassing). A website for the dangerously obsessive; my natural home.”

I have to admit, I completely agree with Rowling’s assessment. If I find myself wondering if Hannah Abbott was a prefect or if McGonagall went to Hogwarts with Tom Riddle, then I look it up on the Lexicon, as flipping through the seven-book series would take too long. The site puts the information of the series in an easily accessible, handy form for fans around the world to enjoy.

Welcome to my blog!

I’m using this as a place to organize my thoughts as I sort through the complex relationship between copyright and the internet, with special attention on Harry Potter.

To introduce you to the topic, here is an AP article outlining the current legal battle between J.K. Rowling and Steve Vander Ark.

I’ll comment more as I go along, and feel free to offer your own opinions.

The billionaire author of the Harry Potter books JK Rowling has gone to court to stop Steve Vander Ark from publishing an A-Z encyclopedia on Harry Potter. She was tearful in court and says that this controversy has stopped her from writing. What a crock! She’s already made a billion. Fan fiction is a fact of life.

Scottish writing phenomenon JK Rowling told a court in New York this week, that plans to publish an unofficial Harry Potter encyclopaedia amounted to “wholesale theft”.

As a result of being embroiled in legal action against Steve Vander Ark and his publisher RDR Books, Rowling also stated she has had to stop work on her new novel because the action had “decimated my creative work”.

Rowling denied the case was anything to do with money, and accused Vander Ark of “an act of betrayal” in using her popular fantasy fiction series as the foundation for his book, The Harry Potter Lexicon. “He has simply taken it and copied it – it is sloppy, lazy and it takes my work wholesale,” she said.

Rowling also told the New York court she had intended to write her own encyclopaedia and donate the proceeds of its sales to charity.

In response to the action filed by Rowling’s solicitors, RDR Books accused the Scottish author of seeking to “claim a monopoly on the right to publish literary reference guides, and other non-academic research, relating to her own fiction”.

The case will be heard until the end of this week.

Related Links
www.jkrowling.com
www.rdrbooks.com

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Colin Galbraith writes articles and reviews on a wide variety of subjects. For more information please visit: Colin Galbraith Freelance