@ budb
I hope, we will get some insight in the case, cause SVA can at any time decide to speak out. Until then, we agree to disagree.
Sue, she’s gone and updated the news on the Companion Books on her website. She actually talks about Steve and the HP Lexicon, and how she never dreamed she’d have to do such a thing, but she says….well, perhaps you’d better read it for yourself….(wouldn’t want to paraphrase her now, it’s too risky)
Guys relax! She will publish this eventualy.
First of all wrote the book SPECIFICALLY as a gift to 6 special people. But since she felt it appropriate that 7 books has to be made (probably each book is unique in some way), she decided to auction the 7th one. This was meant to be a SPECIAL GIFT those people who helped her in creating Harry Potter. It is not her intention to “torture” fans.
She will eventually publish a simpler version w/o the special features unique for each book at some point.
If she possible it wholesale right now, then how can it be considered special gifts? Let the people who truly helped her (plus one lucky kid with REALLY rich parents) enjoy the fruits of their labor first.
She could at least have it published after the auction of the authentic copy… :(
Whoaaa, Hedwig June is right, she has updated her site. I’m sorta’ shocked about this whole Steve thing, what a Halloween he must’ve had!
I believe that she doesn´t want anyone to copy the Tales. But the one who get´s them is at a very lucrativ source for the black market.
Poor Steve. Yesterday we had an evil witch here… and she has killed WOTM.
From JK’s site:
“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.”
Ah i forgot: No publisher can make money with that book!!!
Thanks for the update, Hedwig, it must have happened since I last checked; is this revised statement what you were referring to earlier, aillinne?
ok, so the legal argument now centers on whether or not the planned book is primarily composed of direct quotes from either JKR’s writings or interviews she gave. In that case, the matter does become one of publishing copyright [not intellectual property] —JKR owns (with WB to some extent) the copyright to anything she wrote; the copyrights for interviews are usually held by the interviewer (ie, when she was interviewed by Meredith Viera, the copyright would be with MV’s employer, NBC. again, much depends on the contract JKR signed when she agreed to be interviewed).
Legally, anyone can write a book about HP (etc), and quote up to X number of words from a specific book (I do forget the exact number of words, its something like 3000 from a single published work) without seeking permissions from the copyright holder. If Steve’s project was to be a hard copy version of the site, then considerable portions would be direct quotes from JKR’s writings, and he can’t do that without the permissions. If on the other hand he paraphrased the bulk of the information, had as few direct quotes as possible, and provided correct full citations for his information (those good old foot/end notes!), he should be allowed to go ahead.
alas, i know a bit about the murky intellectual property legal debates, and a bit more about copyright (I say alas because I really wish I didnt need to know such things). Steve probably is being advised by his legal rep not to say a word at this time….
has anyone checked Lexicon today? Yesterday there was a mention of the updates to JKR’s site, and that’s it
No matter how you cut it, this is sad.
I tried block, copy and paste from JKR’s statement, cannot, will try the text only version to see if I can.
the cover of the book is BEAUTIFUL!...I LOVE IT!!! And I bet the inside is just as beautiful!
Also, tho I apologize for losing track of which thread is discussing what…this area should be for discussing Tales of Beedle the Bard, not the sad situation with Lexicon. I’ll try to be more careful about what I post where
Oh, I’ll agree that she is not ignorant of the suit, aillinne. She would have to be informed. But whether she is personally involved and the prime mover, no, I don’t think so.
Shall we simply agree that we don’t know (and probably will never know) all the behind the scenes stuff, and agree to disagree how to interpret the little information available?
on a more upbeat note, only 12 months and several weeks until the release of HBP in theaters, and less than 6 weeks until OotP goes on sale in the US.