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EmmaRiddle · #1 (**permalink**) 11-02-2007, 12:33 PM

In another update on her website J.K.Rowling has talked about the lawsuit filed against a fan encyclopaedia, explaining her actions. RDR books, the publishing company, have responded, with more details from the suit emerging.

Quote:

As is now widely known, a complaint has been filed in the name of Warner Bros and myself against the publisher of a proposed Lexicon, written by Steven VanderArk. This decision was reached, on my part, with immense sadness and disappointment, and only because direct appeals for a reasonable solution failed. I never dreamed, in the light of our previous good relations – including giving the Lexicon a Fansite Award - that this situation would ever arise.

From what I understand, the proposed book is not criticism or review of Harry Potter's world, which would be entirely legitimate – neither I nor anybody connected with Harry Potter has ever tried to prevent such works being published. It is, we believe, a print version of the website, except now the information that was freely available to everybody is to become a commercial enterprise.

It is not reasonable, or legal, for anybody, fan or otherwise, to take an author's hard work, re-organize their characters and plots, and sell them for their own commercial gain. However much an individual claims to love somebody else's work, it does not become theirs to sell.

RDR, the publisher for the website-come-book Lexicon, have updated their website claiming they intended to "make its information available to underprivileged children and those in impoverished nations, who may have no access to computers or to the World Wide Web." It is also claimed that the current action on behalf of J.K.Rowling and W.B. is a result of the publishing company seeking fair compensation for the use of Steve Vander Ark's timeline on Harry Potter DVDs. They are citing the first amendment, stating that halting publishing is an attempt to "squelch the press". They also claim to have received threatening letters and abusive phone calls from W.B.

Details of the case are as follows;

Quote:

-The suit says any money award given to JKR or WB as a result of this suit will be donated to charity.
-It claims Steve Vander Ark made claims to rights in the Harry Potter series and threatened to sue WB.
-It seeks to halt publication and recoup whatever profits are made by the book or costs incurred by the suit.
-The suit says four letters were sent to RDR Books regarding the issue before it went to a lawsuit.
-That RDR Books has refused to hand over a pre-publication copy of the books for review.
-It names RDR Books and 10 DOES - unidentified entities/people - who can be named later.
-In response to contact from JKR's lawyers, RDR Books sent its own "cease and desist" letter to Warner Bros. regarding a timeline on the Harry Potter DVDs they claim infringes the Lexicon's copyright, which the suit says is "a complete fabrication apparently intended to deflect Plaintiffs' complaints - but which merely serves to highlight hypocritical nature of Defendant's conduct."

Further details are as such;

Quote:

- Plaintiffs did everything they could prior to filing this lawsuit to engage in a substantive dialogue with Defendant only to be rebuffed and treated rudely. For example, while claiming not to have the ability or time to respond to Plaintiffs' multiple 'cease and desist' letters because of a family tragedy, Defendant instead was hawking foreign publishing rights to the Infringing Book in Germany.

-The suit says that there is a "big difference between the innumerable Harry Potter fan sites' latitude to discuss the Harry Potter Works in the context of free, ephemeral websites ad unilaterally repackaging those sites for sale in an effort to cash in monetarily on Ms. Rowling's creative works in contravention of her wishes and rights."

-JKR has been "careful not to license" other "tie-in or companion books" which merely "regurgitate her creative expression without adding valuable analysis or scholarly commentary...in part, because...she has authored and published her own Companion Books and intends to create additional companion books."

-JKR's agency, Christopher Little, heard about the book from an online listing on Publisher's Marketplace. The book and its disclaimer-less title led JKR and her agency to contact the author.

A time-line of events, prior to the filing of the suit, are logged as thus;

Quote:

September 12: The Christopher Little Agency e-mailed Steve Vander Ark with a copy cc'd to RDR books, containing a reminder of JKR's plans to write a future book and a statement that JKR did not wish to grant rights to any third party. "Appealing to Mr. Vander Ark as a friend and supporter of Ms. Rowling and the Harry Potter books, Ms. Rowling's agent asked Mr. Vander Ark to forgo publication of the Infringing Book." The email went unresponded for six days.

September 18: JKR and WB's lawyer forwarded a letter to RDR Books and Steve Vander Ark via e-mail, notifying them that the book would be infringing copyrights and citing precedent (Twin Peaks Productions, Inc. v. Publications Int'l, Ltd, and Castle Rock Entertainment v. Carol Publishing Group; the first regarding a book of Twin Peaks plot summaries and the second a book of Trivia about the Seinfeld series). The letter requested the publication cease, in the U.S. and to all foreign publishers, and asked for a list of those entities so that JKR's lawyers could contact them directly.

September 18: Steve Vander Ark responded to JKR's agent by e-mail saying he had "been asked to leave all correspondence in this matter to others."

September 19: RDR Books replied, saying, "[i]t is our intention to thoroughly study the various issues you have raised and discuss them with our legal advisers."

October 3: JKR and WB counsel wrote again, "after waiting another two weeks and receiving no substantive response...emphasizing their clients' concerns and the impending publication date." Roger Rapoport, president of RDR Books, requested more time due to a death in the family, which was given by JKR and WB's counsel.

October 11: JKR and WB counsel discovered that in the time period in which he had requested for a "good faith" delay to deal with a death in the family, he had sent a "cease and desist" letter to WB regarding "a timeline appearing on some of the Harry Potter DVDs [that] infringed the Lexicon Website. Warner Bros. responded that it would look into the matter more fully. In the meantime Warner Bros. asked for a copy of the"print version" of the Lexicon Website referred to by RDR Books in order to aid in its evaluation of the claims. RDR Books summarily dismissed Warner Bros. reasonable request," the suit claims, "stating rudely: 'If you do not know how to print that material [from the Lexicon Website] please ask one of your people to show you how.' "

October 19: JKR and WB counsel wrote a third letter; RDR responded again that they would reply after looking into allegations.

October 23: Christopher Little Agency learns that RDR had recently offered the publishing rights for the book in Germany to Random House and in Taiwan to Crown Publishing. "Plaintiffs grew increasingly concerned during the course of these events because it appeared that RDR Books was duplicitously stalling its response to Plaintiffs' concerns in order to surreptitiously promote the Infringing Book in advance of the rapidly-approaching publication date."

October 24: JKR and WB counsel wrote a fourth letter to RDR Books, "expressing their grave concerns about RDR Books' recent behavior and asking for confirmation that RDR Books would not publish the Infringing Book until it attempted to resolve this matter in good faith." The lawyers also repeated their request for a copy of the book. They also set a deadline for response of Oct. 29.

October 24: RDR Books responded that the "Plaintiffs' 'unwarranted' objections were not appreciated," and that the book was a "print version of the Lexicon Website, which was allegedly permitted by Ms. Rowling, and that there were allegedly other Harry Potter guides similar to the Infringing Book on the market." The suit says in response, "While Ms. Rowling has permitted some fan sites certain latitude to make use of the material in her books, these sites are generally free to the public and exist to enable fans to communicate, rather than to permit someone to turn a quick and easy profit based on her own creativity. Ms. Rowling never gave anyone permission to publish a 400-page Harry Potter Lexicon."

October 31: Suit filed. "It is apparent that RDR Books has no intention of working with Plaintiffs to resolve this matter amicably. Plaintiffs therefore have no choice but to file this lawsuit."

Quote:

The suit also maintains that the book will be marketed to mislead consumers, because it does not have a disclaimer in its title or subtitle and is referred to as 'the most complete and amazing reference to the magical world of Harry Potter,' which the suit claims "gives the false and misleading impression that the book is an official Harry Potter book and that Ms. Rowling or Warner Bros. has authorized it or is associated it with it in any way."

The following counts are cited in the case;

Quote:

-Copyright Infringement
-Federal Trademark Infringement
-Unfair Competition and False Designation of Origin
-False Advertising
-Deceptive Trade Practices
-Unfair Competition
-Declaratory Judgment Regarding Copyright Infringement

Further remarks from Christopher Little, Rowling's agent, can be found here.

Source: The Leaky Cauldron

marla_khulet · 11-02-2007, 12:40 PM

OOh.. the counts are plenty. I really feel sorry for the guy but then, JK is really setting a good example. And also JK is so nice to give whatever the stakes are to charity.

SlytherinSissa · 11-02-2007, 01:55 PM

It sounds like RDR is grasping at straws here. The thing is, if their lawyers are dirty enough (see the case of Dan Brown), RDR can win and proceed to publish the book. What gets me is that their marketing tactic for the book is to underpriviledged children in impoverished nations. Yes...because nourishment and clean water aren't their top prioroties, they want a Harry Potter companion because they don't have access to the internet. Please. It just sounds like they wanted the jump on the encyclopedia and, from what I can see, it is copyright infringement.

Emma potter 95 · 11-02-2007, 02:11 PM

good
thaNKS ALOT

Padie · 11-02-2007, 08:47 PM

o.O These people are mad.

unicornkeeper07 · 11-02-2007, 09:09 PM

If anyone is going to write and encyclopedia it should be J.K. Rowling herself!

Ozzy · 11-02-2007, 09:46 PM

I hope JKR wins the case. It was wrong of Lexicon to even think of doing what they are trying to do in the first place, and they should be stopped. I would be doing the exact same thing if I was JKR, and I personally feel that if Steve wants to make money, he should go and get himself a good job or get cracking with some good and original ideas instead of trying to twist other people's ingenuity and use it for his own personal gain.

Also, I'm not buying his excuse that this is primarily for people without internet or those in impoverished nations because chances are they can't afford HP books either, including his. Its hogwash and merely for greedy profit.

My $0.02

dancerbookl · 11-02-2007, 10:10 PM

They ought to be stopped, I mean, did they not figure that JKR would want to have the ecylopedia if she had wanted it?

prettyinpink · 11-02-2007, 10:15 PM

those are alot of counts!

griffin_girl · 11-02-2007, 10:17 PM

Oh wow...can't they wait for JK to write the encyclopedia? I mean, she did promise to write oner and I'll bet it'll be way better than what they wrote coz all this *gestures to SS and all HP stuff* is hers. So naturally, her encyclopedia will be magnificent. Isn't that worth waiting for?

to them, apparently not...(-__-'')

Mari of the Ocean · 11-03-2007, 01:24 AM

wow!!! that's harsh

accio.brain · 11-03-2007, 03:34 AM

That so hurt inside!

half_blood_prince · 11-03-2007, 03:43 AM

wow thats interesting

Dainsie · 11-03-2007, 08:07 AM

Quote:

It is also claimed that the current action on behalf of J.K.Rowling and W.B. is a result of the publishing company seeking fair compensation for the use of Steve Vander Ark's timeline on Harry Potter DVDs.

That's a load of beetle poop!

The content in our library here on SS, just like the Lexicon, is taken straight from the books. ANYONE can read them and form a timeline. I know, I have done it. I also have my own encyclopedia hand written in notebooks from info in the books, most of which is now in the SS Library to share with everyone else. HIS TIMELINE MY HAT. Its all JKs work, if she didn't write it, the information wouldn't even exist.[/rant]

jrtpuplvr · 11-04-2007, 12:36 AM

^totally agrees with you!!

Eclipsed · 11-05-2007, 10:18 AM

God, this is quickly getting outta control. Hope Jo wins the case though.

SenoritaMaxie · 11-05-2007, 01:49 PM

Why do I feel on the Lexicon's side? ^^

**lemondrop13** · 12-05-2007, 04:30 PM

^ Perhaps you have lost your mind?? LoL! I'm totally just kidding!

The entire situation is really sad but I truly believe that JKR should win this case. And in the event that Lexicon does win, I won't be buying their encyclopedia when Jo's will be so much better!

Mari of the Ocean · 12-18-2007, 08:38 PM

ohhh God

MaxCrux · 04-15-2008, 05:34 PM

Is copying wrong?

Ask Steve! At The Harry Potter Maxicon is complete copy of the Lexicon site. Let's see how he reacts to it.

When Steven Vander Ark's publisher, RDR Books, told him it was okay to publish a printed version of Vander Ark's Harry Potter Lexicon Web site, which is largely derived from work by Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, Vander Ark accepted that without further question and proceeded with the project. That cavalier attitude is no surprise when one considers the source of Vander Ark's Web site in the first place. When did it become okay to lift someone else's copyrighted material and present it as one's own? That's why, “in the name of scholastic pursuit”, I've made a copy of Vander Ark's Web site to use as my own Web site. Oh, it's okay. I've changed the name of the site and reorganized it a little. My version is called Harry Potter's Maxicon. Different enough, right?

Http://www.maxicon.org

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