J.K.Rowling Files Lawsuit
Thursday, November 01, 2007
J.K. Rowling, the prolific author of the Harry Potter series is in the news again after outing Dumbledore, one of the main characters as gay October 19, now has filed a federal lawsuit against a Michigan publisher to block the release of a book compiled from the information found on the Harry Potter Lexicon Web site. The Web site is an encyclopedic guide to the billion–dollar grossing wizard created by Rowling over the past decade according to E! Online.
Evidently the Michigan publisher planned to write a 400-page Harry Potter Lexicon and Rowling’s thinks that would infringe on her intellectual rights. Rowling’s has said she was planning to write a comprehensive guide to the seven-book and seven-movies that is to go further into the life of Harry Potter and serve as a reference guide for all things Hogwarts and beyond. Rowling’s however is not seeking damages or looking to shut down the Web site, but the suit does criticize the online Harry Potter Lexicon for recycling her ‘original creative expression with minimal additional commentary.’
Rowling’s has praised the Web site as being effective as a one-stop guide for Potter knowledge and even went so far as to present the site with a Fan Site Award in 2004, but now feels that the book is getting in the way of her right to provide fans with the definitive Potter guide. This makes sense, since she should know everything about Harry Potter and friends as she created them.
In a statement released by Warner Brothers, Rowling’s said “I cannot, therefore, approve of companion books or encyclopedias that seek to preempt my definitive Potter reference book for their authors own personal gain,” Rowling said.
The book’s publisher Roger Rapoport said that he is not going to let the litigation get in the way of his outfit’s plans to release the critical reference work that is The Harry Potter Lexicon. Editor Steve Vander Ark is confused as to why J.K. Rowling has ceased to support him since the site began in 2000 and they have watched it grow to award-winning proportions.
The Web site can be found at http://www.hp-lexicon.org.
