Unreal. I’m not trying to ‘yank everyone’s chains’, I don’t need to brush up on my copyright law, etc. etc. My point is completely on topic. The article was about legal action and JKR’s camp approving the book. My comment was about that. My point was to bring up the topic of her having to ‘approve’ fan fic. Last time I checked, it was okay to post comments and opinions.

I’m merely bringing up the subject of an author approving a fanfic that was written for non-profit. (And for you copyright fanatics, out there, let me remind you that doing something non-profit does NOT exempt you from copyright laws). Anycrap, my point was this, does anyone else have a problem with the need for JKR’s camp to ‘approve’ fanfic. Does that mean if a fanfic proposes ideas or storylines that JKR disapproves us she can ‘unapprove’ it and the author has take it down?!

The fact is ALL fan fiction, wizard rock, and art pieces of the world of Harry Potter ARE a violation of copyright. So, technically, ALL could be subject to this kind of scrutiny.

I’m sorry if you feel that this dragging you down ‘those’ discussions again, but I think it’s funny that ‘those’ discussions are coming up again. First the Lexicon ordeal, and now a piece of fan fiction that also received legal scrutiny and very easily could have received some sort of injuction as well.

And what does this tell us about other fan fictions as well – or wizard rock, or fan made trailers on YouTube that use HP movie footage? Will the WB, JKR or her agents/representation widen their bubble and start looking at these other creations as well?

Wait a second here, am I the only one feeling this situation seems very hypocritical. At first, when it was reported, didn’t it seem as though this person was misleading the public with this elaborate, promotional push, via a very professional looking site? Then he forwards it to Christopher Little with assurances he won’t profit from it, JKR is fine with it. So, how are people going to rationalize this when his site starts to include on-line advertising? In addition, there a number of excellent sites that host fan fiction like PhoenixSong, Checkmated, some of which is very well done. Those writers have no expectations, do it as a labour of love, don’t pursue any promotional push for their work, some of these writers, not all, are actually very talented, yet this guy get’s some huge promotional push that meets JKR’s approval? Meanwhile we have the copyright plagerism issue over a now not-to-be published reference book by a longtime Potter fan webmaster. How is any of this consistant? Of course, I guess if a professional web designer makes it look professional enough and has the right connections, they can do what they like with no recourse. How the worm turns.

So, I suppose my idea of everyone in the forums going in together to buy the ‘Tales of Beedle the Bard’ at the auction, then scanning it in and putting it online for everyone in fandom to enjoy is out of the question?

Crap. I should cancel that PayPal account, then.

Goodness, this guy must be one heck of a writer! I can’t wait to read his fic :). Glad he went about getting permission the right way :).

He shouldn’t “have” to ask for permission in the first place. It is on line and not for profit.

krista, he better be a good writer after all this hype!

Laughing, sorry you cannot see the distinction between fan-fic (and wizard rock, etc) and the two recent cases surrounding the Hogwarts in India and RDR. And, again, you do not seem to grasp the concept of copyright, trademark and intellectual property.

Lippert was smart, in my opinion, to be proactive and prevent potential problems by contacting Christopher Little. There is no indication that JKR read the materials, and certainly no indication that she or her representatives expect to review all fan fic. Incidentally, your claim of legal scrutiny in this case is not borne out by the facts available to us. Nor is the concern that ” WB, JKR or her agents/representation widen their bubble”... sorry, I just see this as conjuring an imaginary problem, since it doesn’t exist. I also found it very odd that you insist in writing as if JKR personally was manipulating and choreographing each move. In brief then your argument lacks merit and logic, and hence appears to be presented only to see what reactions it provokes.

Sure, your entitled to your opinion. You can even keep banging away here. Shrug. I just will ignore you from now on, that’s all.

Matt, actually, does raise an interesting idea: what if Lippert should include online advertizing? Interesting hypothetical possibility.

I agree with Amanda (if I’m reading her correctly) that the fanfic author seems disingenuous – he was surprised by the reaction? Really? So he didn’t intend on making a fairly good impression of an official HP site and cleared the matter up the moment it became public?

I don’t think his intentions are malicious, but I don’t think anyone is that naive, either, particularly if they contacted JKR’s agents to see if it was OK. Do most/many fanfiction writers do that? Do most of them think the sites they create are likely to cause issues where getting an OK is necessary?

In any case, I won’t be reading Mr. Lippert’s fic because I think the premise is quite naff, really.

Daphne, going by the information available to us, Lippert didn’t “have to”, he “chose to”. Given the broader context, he was being sensible IMHO, and prevented any problems.

Matt, on reflection, my assumption is that if the story is available to readers for free, the advertizing won’t matter. If there was a charge to read the story, that’s when there would be a problem, yes?

Bubd, thank you for your comments. Frankly, there’s been a lot of arbitrary arguments from Ms, Rowling’s handlers over ‘copyright infringment’, in as as much as the arguments seem to fall into how many quotes from the books constitute infringement, and this is over sites that have been in exhistance for many years now. The arguments have become arbitrary over where the on-line fandom has crossed a line. I agree the problem has little to do with Ms. Rowling personally, but has to do with her handlers, will the people surrounding her begin to make such arbitrary decisions as to list what fan sites meet their approval and which one’s do not? We are talking after all of a multi-billion dollar franchise. While there’s no evidence to support alarm, I am partially bracing to see long standing fan-sites, deamed by JKR’s handlers, to not meet or meet approval. Yes, that seems kneejerk, but I’m not discounting the possibility.

As far as the advertising issue is concerned, yes, the money rasied for on-line advertising is very little. Yet, couldn’t JKR’s handlers not make the arbitrary decision that any money raised through a non-profit fan site is an infringement? I can’t quite discount what they might determine in the future.

Frankly, I’m disilluioned enough that I am even closer to writing a personal letter to Christopher Little about the seamingly increasing, combative tone over the on-line fan community, as well as a clarifcation over where things stand in the future.

Just because the man is a graphic artist and his site is so far good doesn’t mean the fic is worth the screen it’s written on … be interesting to find out. Graphic artistry talents don’t mena he is a talented author. Of course he may be, but i’m not putting stock in his graphic abilities that he’s going to produce a fabulous story.

oh man, i could just imagin if all the fanfic authors out there decided to do “the sensible thing” and send in their fics for approval. after the first 20000 fics they’d probably just make a blanket statment banning it all. and what about these restrictions she did say. does that mean all R and NC17 fics are illigal? because i’m not exagerating when i say that there are thousands of them out there too.

i think people are just getting worked up for nothing, this guy by sending his fic in for approval when he didn’t need to really rubs me the wrong way. why would he do that unless he really has No idea about how the online fandom works, in which case i really don’t like that he’s getting all this attention. i believe you earn your popularity in a fandom, not pull some publicity stunt and all of a sudden everyone wants to read your fic. WHY PEOPLE? what else have you read by him that makes you want to invest the time in a full lenght novel fanfic? who’s recomended him? what rec’er sights is he listed on? what exchanges/games/communities does he post to? what archives that do screenings have accepted his work?

so in the end, why do all of you, who never typically read fanfiction, plan to read this over someone who meets all the criteria above?

gotta love the media, i see now why the pet rock was so popular. people will buy anything if you stick it under their noes’s

Has anyone seen he’s got a thing preview on his site? Its cover art. Seems strange he’s got cover art to me. H must just be releasing it with the first chapter.

Matt, thank you. That’s exactly what I’m saying. I’m concerned (and watchful) over this stance that JKR’s people (and the WB to some extent) are taking.

I understand the need to protect copyright, WB’s interest in protecting official HP merchandise and media, and JKR’s need to protect her work and, perhaps more importantly, the spirit of her work. But, it seems to me if things keep going down this road, problems would arise.

Incidentally, how does Leaky handle it? I’m assuming the ’.org’ means they are non-profit, though again, that doesn’t exclude you from copyright laws. Obviously, they are doing online advertising, but, again, I’m assuming the revenue generated goes back into developing the site. I’m sure they must work closely with reps from JKR, WB, book publishers, etc., etc.

Though, I, personally, have no problem with the staff making money off the site – they do a great job.

Had a bit of time between preparing courses for today’s meal, and went back through the news announcements to Nov 13, the first mention of the James Potter project. The source appears to be a 9 Nov news.com piece, found at http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/story/0,23663,22729888-10388,00.html?from=mostpop

So, how did news.com learn of the project? There’s a variety of questions I have, that have more to do with chronology and the spread of information, which I doubt will ever be answered (only direct participants would be able to answer questions like “when did Lippet contact Christopher Little, and what at the time was Lippet’s reasoning for do so?”). Cassius and others are right in observing that he would have to be rather disingenuous not to have anticipated fan interest…let’s face it, the publicity generated has/will lead many to his site (Matt’s point about advertizing may apply here?)

We should recognize that this guy worked fast, both in the writing and in constructing the site itself. That’s some achievement in itself, even if the quality of writing does not in the end satisfy. Let’s hope krista is right, and that after all the hype we all get a good read.

The only possible glitch that I can see would come from WB, which would be more concerned by the uses of images, music and other materials that could be “too similar” to what’s in the films. Does anyone know if they have made any statements specifically about this project recently? Or, are they waiting to see what’s inside the site?

Matt, sure, anything is possible, and WB (et al) could hire a team of net-savvy law students to plow thru the internet looking for every piece of HP material—but, it hasn’t happened, and its pretty unlikely that it will. I just did a quick Google using Harry Potter as the key words, which turned up 68,200,000 hits….imagine some poor bleary eyed office drones, sitting in tiny cubicles, staring at their computer screens as they struggle to evaluate every instance! If the folks at WB really cared, they would at least have someone monitoring the discussions here at Leaky and the other major fan sites, as a means of gauging fan opinion and reactions…I’m not seeing any evidence of that, are you? (Frankly, I wish they would! Some of the disappointments that have been expressed about the films might have been avoided if WB reps were paying attention to what informed fans posted here). Most of all I think you are right to separate out the corporate HP, which appears to be primarily WB at this time, from either the publishers or JKR herself.

siyrean, my comment about Lippet showing good common sense in contacting Christopher Little is very specific to the context, not meant as a general rule (hehehe, just had an image of everyone who does anything HP connected—fanfic, wizard rock, HP puppets, etc—sending every scrap into the offices of Christopher Little and of WB! What a mess that would create!). No, siyrean, I simply meant that in the immediate context of the Indian Hogwarts and RDR issues, he prevented potential problems for himself. That rather convinces me of his ‘good faith’, if you will.

And, we’ll just need to wait and see what Lippet has prepared for us…

Happy Thanksgiving to those celebrating today —lots of chocolate in the candy bowl on the counter, help yourselves…

siyrean, you are asking us what previous work there is to prove that this guy can write and why we would want to read it.

Let me ask you something: What previous work was there that made you want to read Harry Potter?

Now, don’t think I’m trying to start things, because I have no idea why people would fight over this matter. He sent it in to make sure it was not illegal because people were viewing his site and believing that it is JKR’s work. To me, that seems like the right way to go about things. For those of you asking then why doesn’t every fanfic have to be sent for aprroval, how many fanfics do you know that are the size of a full-length novel that have a website? He made it for his family, and after they read it, I’m sure they said “You should put this online!”. And he, being a graphic artist, thought it would be cool and fun to make a website for it. If you wrote a full-lenght fanfic novel, and gave it your kids who LOVE Harry Potter, they would most likely love it just as much, especially since the series is over and making it more special, written by their mom or dad. If you still believe that the story is going to be terrible and you won’t read it because we have no backround writing from this guy, fine. BUT, why not read the first 2 chapters and then decide. Because you are making conclusions about the story when you haven’t even READ it yet. It’s like people wanting Harry Potter banned when they haven’t even read it yet. DONT JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER (or website or whatever).... (wow that was a cheezy line.) Just read it before you critize it!