» News
JK Rowling in Court to Challenge a Harry Potter Lexicon
Harry Potter fans are obsessed with the world that JK Rowling, and one intrepid superfan who is responsible for the most notable lexicon online had decided to write a book about it all. The Harry Potter Lexicon was about to become a published reference manual until JK stepped in to define the difference between supporting your fandom and copyright infringement. The year old case went to court where JK Rowling herself was called to testify.
Rowling said she has stopped work on a new novel because the lawsuit in federal court has “decimated my creative work over the last month.”Rowling is suing RDR Books to stop publication of Steven Vander Ark’s “Harry Potter Lexicon.” She says her copyrights are being violated.
“This book constitutes wholesale theft of 17 years of my hard work,” she testified Monday.
The argument is being made that the Lexicon is being published as a reference guide, and by that definition sourcing materials is permitted.
My thought on the matter is that Steven Vander Ark made sure that in his contract with RDR Books, a clause stating that RDR would foot the legal bills should this “reference guide” be challenged under copyright law. It sounds to me like he knowingly and willingly entered a book deal with the intent of using someone else’s materials and predicted that JK Rowling would have an issue with it.
JK Rowling has said herself that she finds the online resource to be a wonderful collection of the Potterverse for the fans to enjoy. She even admitted that she used the Lexicon more than once to fact check while writing some of the Potter sequels.
She never contested that the online resource was a valid use of her materials. Her issue is that Vander Ark would benefit financially from her product if his book was published. I for one happen to agree. There is a big difference betwen a fansite (regardless of how elaborate), and a profittable product that infringes on her copyrights.
One thing fans won’t let go unnoticed is that JK mentioned that this court appearance has stopped her from working on a new novel.
New Harry Potter novel/spinoff? Doubtful. Shes laid that story to rest. The fans insist it will still happen if they offer her enough money, but money she already has more than she knows what to do with.
Harry Potter Guide? Perhaps – which makes you wonder if this case needs to close so she can publish her own lexicon.
Or is it something altogether new?
I hope J.K. Rowling slams him into the ground in court. He deserves it.
And the new book is a new children’s book. After she finished Harry Potter (Of which I still have yet to read the final two books, not a HUGE fan of HP, but I enjoy them when I have nothing else to read), she stated she was beginning work on some new children stories and that she doesn’t want to be known solely for Harry Potter, but for all her children’s stories.
Wouldn’t it have made more sense for him to offer Rowling’s people the chance to publish the book and then make it “Official”. Or even better, have Rowling’s people offer him the chance to publish the book.
But the guy has no right to try and make money of the Potter name just because he’s a dedicated fan. This work was his choice to make and it was his choice to do it for free.
As I understand it, Rowling is planning on writing an encyclopedia of her own. I imagine she doesn’t want an unofficial one to come out first. Seems reasonable. If the guy is such a fan, I would think he would want to go along with Rowling’s wishes.
Before I would’ve said that the guy should win but now… Jk rowling owns Harry Potter, and even though she’s finished the story, that doesn’t mean fans should start writing about it and taking the money for it. However, if this guy donated ALL the money to charity that would be noble and everyone wins. He should go along with his website instead.
I’m coming into this late, but I wanted to point out that she’d been intending to write her own official “lexicon,” which would be an elaborate guide on what happened to all the characters after the stories ended and would give readers vast stores of knowledge about side characters whose stories never got into the books (like Seamus Finnigan, for one) for a long time.
As I recall, the word about that lexicon was out practically before the seventh book even hit shelves, or at least right afterward- by the time I finished the seventh (a couple days to a week after) I’d heard she would be explaining what had happened to everyone when it was all over in another little book, in the style of her encyclopedia of monsters and the little “Quidditch Through the Ages” book.
Rachel, JK had said she might do an encyclopedia and then flipflopped on it and finally said she wouldn’t be writing any more Harry Potter books. But this is not the point.
The point is that this intrepid fan gathered all the information from JKs works and intended to profit from it. It doesn’t matter if she wanted to do a book like this or not. It wasn’t his to write, and he does not own the copyright to these characters.
It is simply flat out illegal for him to publish this.