The day before last, a court ordered RDR to hand a copy of the manuscript to J.K. Rowling's lawyers, and one was delivered, according to those lawyers. JKR/WB are seeking a preliminary injunction (source here) to the sale of the book, and have not apparently been deterred by viewing the manuscript. RDR has also made claims on their web site that they have "repeatedly offer[ed] to settle this case to Ms. Rowling's satisfaction and publish the book," requests which apparently have not been agreed upon. TLC has asked RDR what the offer of settlement was and has not been met with a response.
As seen here, some deadlines have been set: JKR/WB have until today to file motions, for the preliminary injunction. The defendant (RDR) has until Nov. 15 to respond and the plaintiffs (JKR/WB) have until Nov. 19 to respond to that. A "show cause hearing" is set for Nov. 19 in New York.
Update: A new document authored by a recently retained lawyer for RDR claims that owing to RDR's lack of an intellectual property lawyer, status as a small publishing house (it claims sales of a little more than $100,000/year), and present plan to have legal briefs prepared by a cousin of the house's owner (not an intellectual property lawyer), a delay in responding to JKR/WB is necessary. The lawyer requested a seven-week delay, until the first week in January, which is after the current US publication date for the book. The letter notes, however, that during the delay RDR would voluntarily freeze their actions, amounting to the same results as a preliminary injunction on publication. According to the document, the application has been " denied without prejudice to counsel for defendant and plaintiff appearing this afternoon[.]"
Update 2: RDR has issued a press release that claims their request for a delay has actually been approved, and that JKR/WB are not required to submit their full supporting document requesting a preliminary injunction until January 7. They also claim RDR's response is due Jan. 22. Since this seems to be in conflict with the above document there will be a further update soon. The wording on the RDR press release is that a judge has "accepted an order proposed by RDR Books" - which may just mean the document was accepted but the motion not actually approved (hence the word "denied" written on the actual document); we're trying to find out what's true here.
TLC would also like to briefly thank our members for keeping discussion on this topic as civil as possible, and for continuing to do so. Thank you.
The Harry Potter Lexicon is a partner site to The Leaky Cauldron. The opinions and claims argued here do not constitute The Leaky Cauldron’s opinion or claim (of which it has none).
I have always appreciated Leaky’s honesty and fandom responsibility in these tricky matters. Although this is a hard time for you all, you have shown your professionalism at all times. Just know how much we appreciate it.
RDR had no comment about WHAT the settlement was… to me, this sounds fishy. But the whole case has sounded fishy. Why couldn’t they have not sought publishing after JKR said “no”?
Posted by Author By Night on November 08, 2007, 01:28 PM
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Thanks for keeping us updated Melissa. I’m glad that a copy of the “book” has been handed over for Jo’s and WB’s people to see. That should have been done in the beginning.
I’m a little confused by this since I don’t speak english too well. However, I do understand that WB and Jo have now seen the manuscript and still wants to proceed with their legal actions against it. I thought that some of the problems in this matter were because WB and Jo hadn’t yet seen the book, and that the problem would become the slightest bit smaller when they had done so. Apperently, I was wrong. I’m a little disappointed that they still disapprove of the book after reading it – I thought they’d realise that the book was different from what RDR said it was once they had read it. That it was more about analysis and critisism than rambling facts. Because if it is just facts, it issn’t legal to publish it. And that’s that. But I was so sure that it wasn’t just facts… I listen to PotterCast, I know Steve can analyse things.
Oh well. I just hope that this turns out well in the end. A compromise would be ideal, but that might be asking for to much.
As a patron of both TLC and the Lexicon I was shocked when I heard about the suit. However, I also hold a BA in English and plagarism is a very big deal in the literary field. JKR has every right to put forth this suit since the facts that are on the website have come directly from her work for over a decade. I hope that both parties involved will reach some understanding since the Lexicon and JKR have had such a long relationship.
Eriskay, the problem is that someone else would be making money off this book and that someone is using someone else’s characters, events,etc. The only one who should be allowed to make money off of it, is Jo Rowling and she hasn’t given permission for this guy to do what he has done. To leave it on the net, FOR FREE, is fine. To try to make money off it, is not. Jo has said she would be doing her own such book and that the money made would go to charity. For this guy to do it, would take away that money and he has quite simply, no right to it.
Melissa, and TLC, thanks once again for keeping us informed.
Eriskay, it takes time to read through a book manuscript, trust me on that! And if it is not in “proof” form (the final version before publication) but rather standard letter size paper hardcopy format, it will take a couple of days to compare what is in the manuscript to JKR’s writings/words. If its in a electronic format the process goes faster.
patience, as we continue to hope for a sensible settlement to this sad situation.
Publishing is publishing—whether for profit or not. Someone could not publish in paper form and give away for free copies of copyrighted material either. The case will have lots of repercussions for publishing on the Internet. It’s interesting in that way. If it’s found that both book and website are “publishing,” then Ms. Rowling may, ironically, be on shaky ground. By not having objected to the Lexicon’s publishing of the material before, and even praising the site, she may not be able to stop it from being published again in another form. If the case turns that way, I would think many HP fan sites will likely be shut down.
I’m so sorry that this whole thing has turned so nasty. I always appreciated Steve’s very indepth knowledge of Harry Potter and his ability to analyse deeply. I fully understand his wish to make these things available to a greater audience (and he did so with his website). Upto now, I have a very bad impression of RDR’s handling of the whole thing as they seem simply to ignore the legal aspects of what they do. I can’t imagine that Steve is not capable – with all his intelligence – what this all is about (whether it is justified or not, which might be a question of opinion, but that’s not the discussion, it’s about laws, and laws are laws, they should be followed).
Thanks TLC for your professional and neutral reporting!
Posted by PatFromSwitzerland on November 08, 2007, 02:19 PM
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TLC, endless thanks to YOU for your professional reporting of this matter. I think it is the most important thing going on in HP fandom right now and I am saddened to see that every other fansite is simply ignoring the issue at this point.
That document does Steve no favours.
Its very very damaging indeed-
One line in particular-
“Moreover, Defendant had the audacity to accuse Warner Bors. of violating the purported corpyrights of the Infring Book’s author in a timeline based on the Harry Potter books—a complete fabrication apparently intended to deflect Plaintiffs’ complaints-but which merely serves to highlight the hypocritical nature of the Defendants conduct.”
This is likely to get messier before it sorted.
Im sure JO wont be in court or anything-although she is a big part of this I doubt she would appear.
Thank you for the update. Keeping the news “manageable” (not to quick to keep up with) makes it easier to understand, and to get some kind of feeling for. Thank you also to Melissa.
I, too, very much appreciate Leaky’s coverage on this. The dates in this most recent post are very helpful, especially.
I am confused by a number of things. Most of all, though, I wonder about books that have already been published, and not, apparently, challenged by WB or JKR’s people, books that are guides to the Harry Potter world, books that seek to help you understand all of the many characters, words she’s created, locations, etc. How are they different from what Steve is creating? And, along with that, how about products like Cliff’s Notes, isn’t Steve’s book sort of a similar thing to that? I’ve never heard of Cliff’s Notes being illegal. And Amazon lists a MuggleNet book that is due to be published later this month, that seems to have the word “encyclopedia” or something similar, right in the title. How is that different than Steve’s work? I’ve always thought the MuggleNet online encyclopedia section very much duplicated the Lexicon, though I admit I haven’t spent much time at the MuggleNet one, so I don’t know for sure.
I really think having lawyers and firms who’s business depended on the copyright issues involved in this process has caused this to escalate to a major “thing”. If it could just be Jo and Steve coming to an agreement, it would be much better, but it’s gone way beyond that. It makes me very sad. I feel like I can see both sides and I wish it wouldn’t be so nasty.
"Now, don't forget, it's [i]Locomotor Mortis,[/i]" Hermione muttered as Ron slipped his wand up his sleeve.[br]
"I [i]know,[/i]" Ron snapped. "Don't nag."
I have always appreciated Leaky’s honesty and fandom responsibility in these tricky matters. Although this is a hard time for you all, you have shown your professionalism at all times. Just know how much we appreciate it.