A follow up tonight on that mysterious website we told you about earlier this week, that had rumors flying and fans buzzing about a possible sequel to the Harry Potter series called “James Potter and the Hall of Elders’ Crossing.” While this was officially debunked as a hoax and not an official book or film, The Scotsman reports this is a work of fan fiction by a man named “George Lippert, 37, a digital artist from St Louis, Missouri, who wrote it for his wife and sons, who are avid Harry Potter fans.” Stating that this is a 360 page story, the newspaper reports:
“Mr Lippert intends to release a chapter a day throughout December, free of charge, on his website.The computer-generated movie trailer for the book features Harry-Potter style theme music, thunder and lightning sound effects and icons revealing hidden passwords and clues leading to taster extracts from the “new” book.One chapter discusses the attempt to tighten up broomstick flying legislation for underage wizards and witches after some high spirited alcohol-induced behaviour celebrating a Scottish sporting victory in the heart of London.
Last week Mr Lippert said: “I am a little worried that people will be angry when they find out it’s not Rowling.”But I hope Harry Potter fans will enjoy reading it as much as I’ve enjoyed writing it.”
The paper says that reps for J.K.Rowling are “threatening legal action,” however this is no quote or any sort of confirmation of this supposed legal action given in the news report, and we will update with more on this when we can.
Actually they could. Fanfic is not precisely legal.
Will they? They might ask him to change the site so it doesn’t look official (it is somewhat misleading and does look real, otherwise the question as to whether this is a hoax or not wouldn’t have existed in the first place), but they’re not going to prohibit him from posting his fanfic on the internet.
And if they do ask him to change the site, it’s WB’s territory. Their logo, their music. Just like the Hogwarts Castle in India. Don’t scapegoat JKR.
I think JKR should sue him. It does not matter that it’s only fanfic, and he isn’t getting any money, she should still sue him because it’s a great way for her to get some more money. The more people she sues, the better, I think. It’s her idea, so whoever uses it should all have to pay including all the fanfic people, fan artists, people who write essays about characters, even fan websites should be made to give her some money for posting stuff related to her work. It’s only fair.
Leaving aside the sillier postings, something does strike me odd about this website and its creator. If the man is a digital artist, then therefore he presumably does have a basic understanding of copyright laws in the US. Yet there is too obvious a reliance on WB materials (or “WB-like” if you prefer). Let’s face it, he could have posted his fan-fic without anything that remotely resembled anything trade marked or copyrighted by WB. He’s a smart man, but that’s like waving the famous red cape in front of the color blind bull: he must expect, even want, them to react.
So, creative and all that…but what’s his motive?
Anyway, I applaude his creativity…
And, we’ll just need to see what further information comes out. Not enough information available.
Budb: I’m not sure if he’s trying to get WB’s attention as much as the attention of the fan community. By making it look official, every fan is going to know about this story and it will end up being very widely read. I jnow I’ll be checking it out.
Or maybe he just did it because he knew how cool his kids would think it. :)
Either way there definitely needs to be a big disclaimer on the main page, not behind a password lock.
Budb: Oh of course I agree he has. People thought it was official and inquired to WB about it, and I can’t imagine that he wouldn’t think that may happen.
Emelie: While I never doubted it was fake, many people wondered if it was a project being put forth by Warner Brothers. The thing is masterfully designed and could easily pass as official. It definitely needs a disclaimer. The one on the front page makes it clear who HP belongs to, but it doesn’t explain that the owners of the site are not those people.
A moving, black-and-white Lockhart was tugging hard on an arm Harry recognized as his own. He was pleased to see that his photographic self was putting up a good fight and refusing to be dragged into view. As Harry watched, Lockhart gave up and slumped, p
There is a disclaimer and it actually is just like the one here on leaky.