Well put, Cara. I have read on another site that the other books were published AFTER WB and JKR edited and approved them. The site claimed that one author (Kristina Benson) blogged about everything she had to change/adapt to satisfy WB and JKR.
HPFanatic – please note that those other books had to go through an approval (and editing) process. RDR is refusing to go through this process. I cannot find two dozen encyclopedias. I can find a number of books, all of which could be titled “Essays I’ve written about Harry Potter.” That’s the big difference; the authors thought and created a book of their own ideas. SVA simply wants to list all of JKR’s ideas.
A comment from another site intrigued me: Right now, according to the RDR website, the defense that they will use is that by letting the Lexicon website thrive, JKR has granted copyright to Lexicon and all its forms (including a book).
While this is so wrong in sooo many levels (including the fact that an author can revoke any copyright granted anytime he/she wants unless there’s a contract) let us assume the wild possibility that RDR wins with this defense. Do you guys know what will happen?
As the guy in the other website said its the end of fandom. It is. No author will ever allow a fansite to go up since apparently making a website grants you copyright!!! So what RDR and Steve is telling us is that they’re willing to drag down the entire fandom with them.
Wow.
I wonder if RDR has pre-sold a lot of books (and has spent that money?) in hopes that no suit would be brought?
I have two more questions:
First, is someone from Leaky going to try and attend the court hearings, or will they be closed to the public? I know Melissa lives in NY and there are other people who frequent this site that seem to live close enough to go there when they want to. I’d love to read live coverage of the hearings from an HP fan’s POV. How about it, Melissa? You don’t have to answer ahead of time, but I think you should try and go.
Second, from reading this thread and information on the various communications that went back and forth between the parties regarding this, it seems that WB starts communication with an entity that is planning to publish something that may infringe on copyright by sending them a cease and desist order, followed by negotiation between the parties, after which sometimes an agreement is made so they can publish or sometimes, like with the Mugglenet T-shirts, they have to stop selling them. But my point is, the communication starts with a cease and desist order, do I have that right? Because, I can see how that would be rather intimidating and would not be seen as an invitation to further communication. Why not just send a letter requesting further information, rather than a legal action?
I’m on Jo’s side of this, I think, but put yourself in Steve’s shoes. (1) he gets an award and praise from Jo herself (2) he is under the impression, whether it’s true or not, that WB used his site as a reference, at the very least, when putting together the timeline on the DVD (3) other authors have published guides to the HP world, though I admit we are still unclear as to how much of those were original thought and content (4) Steve got to go to the set of the movie (5) Steve’s run this website since 2000 without any ads that I can see; with 25 million hits that must have cost him a pretty penny. So, what in all of that evidence would lead him to believe he was wrong to go and publish his Lexicon. So then he enters into an agreement with a publisher and some money must have changed hands if we’re this close to publication—work has been done, someone needs to recoup their investment, and they get a legal notice, rather than a friendly letter inviting them to discuss this some more. Am I reading this the wrong way? I can see why he might be upset about it, but maybe I am not understanding it correctly.
Mrs. Lovegood: what in all of that evidence would lead him to believe he was wrong to go and publish his Lexicon
I think a glaring fact is if an email that he is reputed to have sent out in the past is true, if he did in fact send this email out (which given all other disclaimers on his site, I’m inclined to believe) than it’s clear he knew that publishing such a book without JK’s permission was wrong: The following is the alleged email from Steve to the former owner of “The Potter Prophet”
Hello, Matt and Jessica: As the editor of the Lexicon, I get email every so often from fans asking me to publish the Lexicon in book form, so I’ve dealt with this question before. Basically, it is illegal to sell a book like that. Jo has reserved all publishing rights to her intellectual property, which means that she’s the only one who may publish any book that is a guide or encyclopedia to her world. And since we’re fans and supporters of Jo, we wouldn’t do anything that would violate her rights, even if we could get away with it. We wouldn’t get away with it, though, since Neil Blair, her solicitor, is very quick to defend his illustrious client in things like this.
So while it’s a smashing idea, it simply isn’t something that’s allowed at the moment. Believe me, when the series is finished, I plan to petition Jo to allow the Lexicon to work with her to create the ultimate Harry Potter encyclopedia. In the mean time, we’ll have to use the various online resources. Thanks for the email! Steve Steve Vander Ark
According to previous reportings, he did ask Jo regarding a collaboration on the encyclopedia and she said no.
oh ok…now i understand why the other encyclopedias were so bad…b/c jo took out a good chunk.
wondering, the ones i found were clearly termed ‘encyclopedia’ or ‘everything you need to know about HP’ or ‘harry potter A-Z’. essays and analysis are different from this case so i wouldnt drag those in obviously.
Cara, i do understand the copyright issue. but as i said, i dont think this has anything to do with copyright. i used to think that, until i checked out the other ones and i realized none of them were half as good as Lexicon’s would be (if indeed its like the website). Steve’s encyclopedia is bound to bring in big profits. its complete so it basically means any other books coming out after are gonna have to work hard to find something besides the stuff already published to offer: more competition. And when an author is planning on publishing one such book herself, clearly she wouldnt want another person to beat her to it. not when she can drag in copyright issues. i know she is going to give it all to a good cause, but im just very sorry for Steve now. after spending all those hours making a site, hes being told thats its a no no if he wants to get some money for all his efforts.
i mean i think this is pretty pathetic. they dont apply this in business do they? otherwise we’d have only one brand of each item. only Starbucks could sell coffee, only WB could make movies, only Bebe can make t-shirts, only california could export fruits and veggies to canada. then the concept of ‘competition’ would become meaningless, and the guy who started the ideas behind each would be getting his ‘fair share’ for his ideas for the rest of his life.
i dont know…and im not a big WB fan anyway. when the time comes they’re just as bad as RDR or any other gigantor out there.
and saying that Steve’s book is just a rearrangement is kind of stupid because afterall he did say it was an ‘encyclopedia’ not a ‘literary analysis’ so as with all encyclopedias, the Lexicon book will also be a load of info based on whats been given in the books,interviews, and other such sources.
i would say steve is wrong to try to publish it, but seing how much he has put into it over the years and how much people have used it for their own personal or profit-bound purposes, i think its unfair to say he has no right to take something home for himself.
I was a dummy for wondering where Leaky stood in all of this the first time I read the case… I apologise. I was just absolutely mortified when I saw it… Hence, the rash questioning.
I really hope that they settle this SOON.
ReHPFanatic:
Your logic is so flawed:
i mean i think this is pretty pathetic. they dont apply this in business do they?
Yes thay do. Really.
otherwise we’d have only one brand of each item. only Starbucks could sell coffee,
Only Starbucks can sell “Starbucks” coffe, unless they sell the license to someone else. Etc for other cases. Steve is quite free to write his own original fiction novel about a young magician (that’s much more like the other cases you’re takling about). He just can’t call him “Harry Potter”. Then he can reap honest rewards for his book. JUst like JRK did/does.
All the administrative work, however extensive, he did on JRK’s novels and other material, was done on volontary basis and as such he had to know there’s no money in it. Just like fanfiction writers know they’ll never get paid for their stories – they can recieve compliments, improve their writing and that’s it. Same goes for Steve.
I hope that the book is still published on schedule. Personally, I would love a copy of it.
This is written in the complaint (and WB can’t lie about this since that would be perjury):
September 12: The Christopher Little Agency e-mailed Steve Vander Ark with a copy cc’d to RDR books, containing a reminder of JKR’s plans to write a future book and a statement that JKR did not wish to grant rights to any third party. “Appealing to Mr. Vander Ark as a friend and supporter of Ms. Rowling and the Harry Potter books, Ms. Rowling’s agent asked Mr. Vander Ark to forgo publication of the Infringing Book.” The email went unresponded for six days.
So before the C&D, they did contact Steve, but because they didn’t respond, they had no choice but to go to the standard C&D route.
To HPFanatic on November 08, 2007 @ 05:49 PM: Of course you don’t have to be a Starbucks to sell coffee, but you do have to be a Starbucks to sell “Starbucks coffee” and sell it as such (I think).
RDR talks of “1st Amendment Rights”, etc, but they’re a business. They could make more money than they’ve ever made before if they sell this book. They are doing it for the money. (most of their offerings seem to be written by the publisher or are out-of-print works dropped by their orig
I’m pretty dang sure that Steve and RDR are trying very hard to negotiate a settlement right now. Because looking at their stated defense at their site, no decent lawyer will go that route. (I mean c’mon, to claim that allowing a website to flourish is equivalent to granting a copyright? No author will ever allow a fansite to go up if that’s the case) So I don’t think they’re serious about fighting the lawsuit and all this is just trying to gather publicity for their soon to be edited book.
The question is will JK or WB even let an edited book pass considering all the trouble RDR and Steve has caused? My gut (and the lawyer inside me) says they will take this slam dunk case and shutdown RDR completely.
Note: They never sued Steve, only RDR.
A new document has appeared in the justia news report. It looks like RDR asked for a delay and were denied.
First and foremost, fellow Potterheads, none of us know the exact contents of the planned book. I checked on Amazon as well as the RDR site, and neither has even a table of contents up. We have no way of knowing if the planned content is primarily original commentary or if its primarily from JKR’s writings. As I read the information available today, a copy has been turned over to WB attorneys for review, and it will take time for them to read and compare the manuscript to JKR’s published writings. And, folks, attornerys are unlikely to be avid HP fans who will recognize phrases from the books (with the exception of those attorneys who are in fact part of our discussion here..The Few, The Proud, The Brave!)
Second, SVA issued a statement that he would not be discussing the case publically back in mid-September; his recent statement online was clearly at his legal counsel’s advice and reflects legal language, not his. He’s acting appropriately here, and keeping quiet.
Third, RDR is a very very small publisher, local to SVA. Why he chose to go with them, perhaps we’ll learn one day. But, for all practical purposes, RDR lacks the expertise in publishing a work that has a huge potential market and for dealing in advance with the numerous legal issues involved. Any good editor would have had the permissions for quoting copyrighted materials done with months ago. With all respect to RDR as a small publisher, they are out of their league.
Last, part of the wonder of legal fiction is that—even tho this entire matter has moved far beyond either JKR or SVA—their names must appear on the legal procedings as if the two of them were duking things out. Please be gentle to both, let’s have fun and blame the lawyers? Steve has very little input into what is occurring any more, and there are times I wonder just how much control JKR herself does.
Someone asked about the time it takes to print a book, after the final editing. For the book to be released on 28 November as planned, most of the work of printing should be completed by now, and stocking and boxing for distribution should be about to start. Whether RDR got that far is another question…
As I said, I’m still of the opinion that this is all a publicity stunt by RDR and they will eventualy comply with WB (assuming WB will ever allow even an edited version of the book considering RDR’s irrational actions and statements).
They could’ve published the Lexicon easily (although probably heavily edited including a subtitle with the word Unofficial something) if they had complied with the C&D like all other books before them. But why didn’t they do it? Why did they force WB to sue? Why all the unneccesary statements in the website that doesn’t help AT ALL?!! (Trust me, any legal mind will tell you that the best thing to do in this situation is to shut up) I still think the answer is publicity, they wanted A LOT of it and intended to settle all along.