NY Judge Issues Restraining Order to Prevent Publication of Lexicon; JK Rowling Updates
Companion Books
Posted by: Melissa
November 09, 2007, 03:14 PM
As stated in a public document and now on JK Rowling’s Web site a judge has issued a restraining order against publication of The Harry Potter Lexicon.
This document, signed by Judge Robert Patterson in NY, denies RDR Books’ claim to delay the matter until January and grants a restraining order for JKR/WB to prevent the book from being published or licensed anywhere worldwide until February 6 2008, when the case for a preliminary injunction may be made. J.K. Rowling says in her “news” updates section, in an entry titled “Lexicon continued,” that this mean the book “cannot be completed, published or marketed until the court has had time to decide whether it would break the law if published in its present form.”
She goes on:
I take no pleasure in the fact that publication has been prevented for the present. On the contrary, I feel massively disappointed that this matter had to come to court at all. Despite repeated requests, the publishers have refused to even countenance making any changes to the book to ensure that it does not infringe my rights.
Unless their position changes, we will all return to court next year. Given my past good relations with the Lexicon fansite, I can only feel sad and disillusioned that this is where we have ended up.
Earlier today, RDR Books issued a press release that claimed that a judge “accepted an order proposed by RDR Books, agreeing to temporarily withhold publication of Steve Vander Ark’s Harry Potter Lexicon.” The release did not mention the restraining order. A motion to delay proceedings owing to RDR Books’ need to retain and familiarize a copyright lawyer with the case was denied.
RDR Books claims on its site that the delay was voluntary and perhaps even their idea, but that contradicts what has been put forth in legal documents as well as what JK Rowling has said has occurred. Also, a source has told TLC that it was Judge Patterson’s preference to restrain the case (and therefore publication) until February, not RDR’s.
The RDR statement says:
“It is our wish that Ms. Rowling join Mr. Vander Ark in his campaign for literary freedom and free expression by dropping her complaint against a book we are confident she would enjoy reading.”
Update: We have a copy of the judge’s letter (you can download it here, which will be available for download shortly. It says that the book has not been fully typeset for printing, that RDR has instructed its typesetters to cease operations, and that the book “cannot be printed and distributed to the public at this time.” The court orders that the book and all those associated with its publication cannot complete the book, typeset it, print it, distribute it, advertise it, promote it, sell it, license it, accept orders for it – not in the US or anywhere abroad. It also ordered RDR to take the book off Amazon, their own Web site, and any other means of “advertising, soliciting orders for, and distributing the book.” Also any money that RDR gets from activities related to the lawsuit shall be placed in escrow (holding, supposedly pending outcome of the suit). The order will remain until the court has ruled on JKR/WB’s filing for a preliminary injunction.
The preliminary injunction will be filed on January 7, 2008; RDR’s opposition will be due on January 22, 2008. The reply by JKR/WB is due on January 29. The preliminary injunction hearing will take place on Feb. 6, 2008 or “on such other date as the court directs.
Update 2: You can now download here JKR/WB’s lawyers’ response to RDR lawyers’ attempt to delay the case (a delay attempt that was denied by Judge Patterson after this letter was filed). The letter notes that although RDR is a small company with limited resources, “RDR faced no such obstacles in garnering significant and international attention for itself and its book. Indeed, upon information…RDR continues to trumpet its intention to publish its book.”
The letter also says “RDR has used this lawsuit as an opportunity to publicize the book and disparage my clients in the press,” and said the plaintiffs (JKR/WB) are eager for a ruling because it would only “perpetuate the cloud…and would most likely be perceived as some sort of vindication for RDR—which had been given every conceivable chance to resolve this matter amicably.”
JKR/WB also referred to the request for adjournment as 11th-hour, claiming RDR had since last week to request it, and claiming that if the schedule were delayed new facts would develop or facts would change JKR/WB’s briefs, which had been prepared for submission today.
You can download this letter here.
Update 3: WB has made a statement: “Although sad that this had to go to court, the judgement granting an order against RDR books is an important step in helping us to protect our intellectual property and at the same time, protect JK Rowling’s right to produce her own companion book to the Harry Potter series she created. Both Warner Bros. and JK Rowling are clear that this claim is a matter of infringement of copyright, not a matter of literary freedom.”
Update 4: There is another update on the Harry Potter Lexicon by Steve Vander Ark: “t’s very hard to know what to write. For one thing, everything I write these days — everything I’ve ever written or said, in fact — is being dissected and analyzed to make me sound like a fool or a liar or an arrogant jerk (as I’m sure this will be as well). People who know me and have talked with me know that this isn’t the case….To read some of what I’ve seen online, fans have decided that I am just trying to make huge amounts of money or that I have no respect for Jo. Some fans, along with WB, have speculated that I took the material they graciously allowed the Lexicon to use and slapped it into a book without permission. Some have jumped to the conclusion that I blatantly ignored demands that I not create a book from material on the Lexicon. That just isn’t who I am. I would never, never do something like that….One question that gets asked of me over and over is if I have ever met Jo or talked to her. The answer is no, I haven’t. I have always wished for that chance, but it’s never happened. There is a crazy part of me that believes that if she and I could just sit down and chat about this, we could get it all sorted out and put this miserable incident behind us….Maybe then all of us could put it behind us and just get back to enjoying Harry Potter together.”
You can read the full details of the suit here, along with JKR’s statements (or download the suit for yourself ) or read statements from TLC interviews WB and RDR here. A previous update is also here, and another one here.
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).
463 Comments
Great news. I’m glad justice is being served.
Posted by Cees on November 09, 2007, 10:20 AM
Yeesh. This is getting really nasty on both sides it seems.
Posted by Maggie on November 09, 2007, 10:21 AM
Good!
Posted by Amy S on November 09, 2007, 10:25 AM
This is just an interlocutory injunction. Preserves the status quo until the matter is determined.
If the situation is truly how J.K. Rowling has described it, and the publishers really have been unresponsive and ignored her, then I hope Jo wins.
Posted by Mark on November 09, 2007, 10:25 AM
Wow. This is getting bad, i feel sorry for Steve… :[
Posted by Molly F on November 09, 2007, 10:27 AM
Atleast this messy business will now lay dormant until febuary.How about some good news about HP @ Warner Brothers?
Posted by Sethy on November 09, 2007, 10:27 AM
I don’t feel sorry for steve. at all.
Posted by wow on November 09, 2007, 10:27 AM
I believe you only have half of the story. If you had stayed to see the resulting hearing at 5pm, you would have heard RDR voluntarily agreed to delay the release of the Lexicon book. The Judge agreed to this, and moved the hearing on the injunction back from Nov. 19th to Feb. 8th. This will allow both sides a chance to properly prepare for the injunction hearing. I don’t understand why you are publishing partial news and a story that is technically outdated yesterday at 6pm. Is there some reason why you are not telling your readers the whole truth about this case? Are you going to censor this post as well? Please try to get your story straight, or tell your readers that you don’t have time to go down to court to find out that your source, Justia.com, has not yet reported on the second hearing. Do you honestly believe that this kind of sloppy reporting and misinformation will allow your readers to trust you? Try to get your facts straight.
-A concerned reader
RDR Books Agrees to Delay Publication of Harry Potter Lexicon
Earlier today, New York Federal Court Judge Robert Patterson accepted an order proposed by RDR Books, agreeing to temporarily withhold publication of Steve Vander Ark’s Harry Potter Lexicon.
The order delays the publication of this 400-plus-page book until Judge Patterson can preliminarly determine the merits of the lawsuit initiated by J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros. In a complaint filed on Halloween, the plaintiffs contend that the proposed Lexicon violates Ms. Rowling’s copyright, an allegation RDR Books denies.
Plantiffs’ papers in support of its request for a preliminary injunction are due January 7. RDR’s response is due January 22. The hearing on the plantiff’s request for a preliminary injunction is set for February 6. The Lexicon, which is now in preparation, will not be published until the book is ready to be examined by the court, which will decide if it violates the rights of Ms. Rowling, one of the world’s best known authors. Ms. Rowling has suggested that the Lexicon could hurt the performance of her own encyclopedia, which she has not begun writing.
J.K. Rowling has given her fan site award to the seven-year-old Lexicon (www.hp-lexicon.org). and praised it on her own website::
“This is such a great site that I have been known to sneak into an internet cafe while out writing and check a fact rather than go into a bookshop and buy a copy of Harry Potter (which is embarrassing). A website for the dangerously obsessive; my natural home.”
The Lexicon is enthusiastically used by more than 25 million visitors annually including academics, critics and Harry Potter readers.
“It is ironic that publication of Steve Vander Ark’s Lexicon is being threatened by Ms. Rowling after he has joined other librarians to fight organizations that have attempted to ban or curtail Ms. Rowling own work,” says RDR Books publisher Roger Rapoport. “It is our wish that Ms. Rowling join Mr. Vander Ark in his campaign for literary freedom and free expression by dropping her complaint against a book we are confident she would enjoy reading. We will continue to defend our author and the Lexicon in this David and Goliath battle with an eye toward protecting the rights of readers and writers everywhere.”
Posted by In defense on November 09, 2007, 10:34 AM
Wow, this is certainly getting bigger. I was totally against Steve for what he was doing at the beginning of it all, but after talking to my brother-in-law, who’s a lawyer, the issue is not as black and white as I thought. Steve is redesigning the information Jo has given. He is not selling the information itself, which people can buy in the form of one of the novels, he’s selling a new way of looking at the information – broken down and regrouped into a new format. I still think that Steve and the publishers were in the wrong, but it’s a gray area, for sure, and I’m anxious to see what will happen in the end.
Posted by chocolateisnotforbreakfast on November 09, 2007, 10:38 AM
To the person incorrectly titling themselves “In Defense”, the legal documents filed by the judge do not lie, and those conflict with RDR’s claims of voleentary restrained from publishing the book.
it should be noted that the legal documents released by the court do not state RDR making such a request, but that the judge in reviewing the case took out a restraining order against RDR to force them to withold publishing the book.
This person titleing themselves “In Defence” no doubt is a employee at RDR Books trying to do what they had been doing all along. contradicting the courts, and perjurying themselves to try to spin public support that so far has not been sucessful and has turned a great deal of people against them, many who arent harry potter fans themselves.
Posted by NotTheHBP on November 09, 2007, 10:47 AM
Wow. “In defense” are you some PR person from RDR? What a way to twist facts to make it appear you were kind enough to voluntarily delay the book. You’re still hoping you can fool some people with the kind of garbage you guys have been spilling since day 1.
A TRO (temporary restraining order) is the preliminary injunction. The preliminary injunction part is OVER. It has been filed and served. They are now moving to the actual determination on whether RDR broke the law or not. Stop with crappy PR already. You’re only making yourself look worse.
Posted by Mars on November 09, 2007, 10:49 AM
This whole thing is very unfortunate. This injunction/agreement was inevitable, so I am not surprised. But the case is far from settled. I’m sure there will be more developments as time goes on.
I still am of the opinion that the Lexicon is an academic work analyzing the books, rather than a re-telling of the story which would be a clear infringement. (And since it is about the books rather than the film adaptations … why does WB have legal standing? I know licensing agreements are complicated … but this crosses my boundary of common sense I’m afraid.) I do still have concerns about the contents of the Lexicon coming from so many contributors. Did they all waive their rights to their work when they had it published on the Lexicon website? (It is quite possible that they signed an agreement giving the rights to their work to the Lexicon – I don’t know as I have never contributed to the Lexicon.)
It’s all very ugly and unfortunate. The Harry Potter fandom has been an amazing thing on so many levels and has been responsible for a number of people being introduced to new experiences. Unfortunately, it is now giving a number of people their first introduction into copyright law.
Posted by Mr. Blood on November 09, 2007, 10:50 AM
“disillusioned”? What does that mean? I’m starting to worry for her.
Posted by loopy on November 09, 2007, 10:50 AM
I feel stupid as fan.
Jo always finds time for update her website about eBay and Lexicon issues, but we don’t have FAQs, RUMOURS, WOTM, EXTRA STUFF and other updates from months or YEARS ago. Now I know which are Jo’s preferences.
It’s mi opinion.
Posted by Karina on November 09, 2007, 10:52 AM
Who does JKR think she is? Does she really think she owns Harry Potter? Harry Potter is a real person, and his story belongs to everyone!
What do you mean Harry Potter isn’t real? JKR really does own the story? Trademarks? Copyrights? I have a bad feeling about this…
Posted by RDR's Cousin on November 09, 2007, 10:52 AM
Great news. I’m glad justice is being served.