J.K Rowling sues over reference book, spares author the Crucio curse.
Great story from Salon.com about J.K. Rowling suing a fan who's putting together a Harry Potter reference book.
The type of book that's being discussed is clearly a reference work -- the type we all used when trying to write term papers on the work of authors like Ernest Hemingway, Proust or William Faulkner. Rowling's suggestion that this is someone profiting off of her work not only demonstrates a startling misunderstanding of Fair Use but also comes off as fairly ridiculous from a woman who's made more money off a children's book series than any modern author.
From the story, about the book springing from a popular fan web site:
["The Harry Potter Lexicon] is a comprehensive reference work covering all that happens in J.K. Rowling's series -- to quote its Wikipedia entry (everything related to Potter is on WP), the Lexicon lists "characters, places, creatures, spells, potions and magical devices," and it introduced one of the first timelines of all events that occur in the Harry Potter universe.
In the past, Rowling has offered high praise for the HPL. "This is such a great site that I have been known to sneak into an Internet cafe while out writing and check a fact rather than go into a bookshop and buy a copy of Harry Potter (which is embarrassing)," she says on her site. She calls the HPL "a website for the dangerously obsessive; my natural home."
Thanks to such acclaim, Vander Ark recently landed a publishing contract with RDR Books to put out a printed version of the online lexicon. His book was to have gone on sale this fall."
That Rowling herself found it a great scholarly resource but objects to the author being paid for print copies that display his work in creating it is really galling.
Comments (2)
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She's planning to publish the exact same book herself, remember? That was the big news right before outing Dumbledore: Rowling will publish an "encyclopedia" including info on the fates of every character after the final book. I would guess that's the main force behind the lawsuit, especially since she never went legal over all the "What will happen in Book 7?" and "The Science of Harry Potter" books out there.
Posted on November 15, 2007 9:06 AM
Exactly. The idea that she's suddenly opposed to books that talk about her characters when there's been a glut of those books on the market for years is a little ridiculous.
I think I did hear about her doing a book after the series was over, but I didn't remember that when I read this story. Thanks for reminding me -- gives you some perspective.
Posted on November 15, 2007 10:23 AM