Harry Potter Lexicon Copyright Lawsuit
You may have read recently about the lawsuit brought by Warner Brothers and J.K. Rowling against RDR books over their plans to publish the contents of the Harry Potter Lexicon website into a book. The Lexicon was designed as a fan site by Steve Vander Ark, who had been a librarian and teacher at a school in Michigan and now lives in London ( the lawsuit does not name him). The Lexicon is very extensive and basically acts as a guide to the seven published Harry Potter books. It lists character, timelines, potions, and places, etc., points out "mistakes" in the books, and publishes essays on them, among other things. The Lexicon is a free site and Rowling had previously commended it, giving it a fan site award.
Rowling's perspective changed when plans were announced to publish a book from contents of the site. She and Warner Bros. are arguing that she had planned on published to her own guide / encyclopedia (at some undetermined point in the future), with the proceeds going to charity, and that the book will directly compete with these profits. They claim that Vander Ark is simply copying portions of her work and putting them into another form without the creativity of a transformative work.
RDR Books is being represented by lawyers at the Fair Use Project at Stanford Law School. They and the publisher argue that publication of literary commentary and guides have long been accepted.
The trial began on April 14th in New York City and will be decided by the judge--a ruling has not yet been announced. If the trial is decided in Rowling's favor, it would be huge blow to the publication of companion literature (think of all the Star Wars, Star Trek guides, etc.) Just because Rowling has created these books and characters does not mean she should have absolute control over anything to do with them. It will be interesting to see the final ruling.
Arda Agulian
J.K. Rowling in Court Assails Harry Potter Lexicon
Stanford Law School's Fair Use Project to represent RDR books in "Harry Potter" CopyrightLawsuit