What I’ve been wondering is how the people who WORK for the lexicon, who contributed content, feel about SVA publishing their work for profit. Why haven’t we heard from them?
Melissa and staff of Leaky Cauldron,, when this is all done I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. Obviously you can’t right now because you’re a member of the Floo Network along with SVA. But with you guys basically giving promotion for his book for free (if I read your post correctly)....that would piss me off.
Thanks to everyone who took a stab at answering my question! I’m still not sure what Johnson meant, though. As we can see in the photocopied pages included with the complaint, the Lexicon provides etymologies for essentially all spell and potion names that have a likely origin in a language other than modern English. Seems pretty logical to me. SarahW’s point about the distinction between organizing alphabetically versus organizing in some truly novel or creative way does make a lot of sense. But if that’s what Johnson meant by “The Lexicon remains silent on its logic of definition or etymology,” then she certainly didn’t articulate the thought very clearly.
I’m sorry but I just DO NOT understand how he could claim copyright over the timeline used on the movies. The HP world is 100% created by JKR, so she could have made the exact same timeline if Steve was right about all his dates. And for that matter, any fan could make the same timeline if we had nothing better to do!!
I just think this whole thing is completely ridiculous, and I completely agree with the person who said something about Bill Gates. Selling a copy of Microsoft is illegal, and he’s one of the richest men in the world, so how is it any different because she’s JKR? The only difference I think is that she has spent a good portion of her life dedicated to nothing but Harry, and has said that the books are like children to her. I think one is even dedicated as her daughters ‘paper and ink twin’ or something.
This whole affair is just something she should not have to go through with, she should be celebrating the end of the series and writing the Scottish book, not getting betrayed by someone she thought was a fan and a friend.
Well done, Melissa! And thanks again for your work!!
First of all, some definitions:
Lexicon: synonyms: Dictionary or Enciclopedic Dictionary
Lexicon: A stock of terms used in a particular profession, subject or style; a vocabulary: Ex. A lexicon of Surealist Art ................ I only have a thing to say, or better, to ask: Have you ever find a Lexicon with “personal comments”, “oppinions” or “influence” about the things, words, events o persons ?
For my a Lexicon is basically a better and more complete dictionary, I would not like to know the personal opinion of the autor…
If Jo wins, do you imagine how big should be the royalties and other permissions fees that the British Enciclopaedia would have to pay from now on?
Maybe I am wrong about all of this, but surelly it is all about $$$
I don’t think JKR is doing this for money at all. If they don’t sue, others could take the goahead and make copies of her books for profit as well, and they couldn’t be stopped because if the Lexicon was allowed, then everyone else has to be. It is JKR’s work and needs to be protected. I feel bad for her because she has to sue and people are saying she is money hungry? That is just mean, after everything she has done for her fans and this is how she is treated. Steve should be ashamed of himself. From what I’ve gotten the impression of, JKR thought he was a friend to her and just a big fan of her work, and then he goes and does this to her. It’s just wrong. Poor Jo!! If she doesn’t win this lawsuit I don’t think there is any justice in the universe!
BigRonFan- I think you ARE all wrong, not to be mean. But Jo has plenty of money, and does so much for charity. Her own encyclopedia’s profits are going to go completely to charity, how can you say that it’s all for the money? Steve is obviously only doing it for the money, from what I got out of this article he is getting half of the profits of the book? The entire lexicon is online for free! There is no need for a book, it is just so Steve can take the HP fans’ money. I also want to say that I think that just having the Lexicon already took away a lot of the profits that could have come from the other two books Jo did for charity. I was going to buy the Magical Beasts book online until I found out I could just read about every one of the creatures on the lexicon site… so…
BigRonFan – The substantial difference between the HP Lexicon and an encyclopedia of the real world (World Book, Encarta, Encyclopedia Brittanica) is that the latter provide facts about actual, existing things. The world itself is not the intellectual property of anyone. The HP Lexicon does the same for an INVENTED world that is the intellectual property of JK Rowling.
I think JKR is entirely in the right here, legally. Steve and RDR not only tried to publish a book containing no original thought and substantial quoted portions of JKR’s own material, they tried to make it look like it was endorsed by her. They need to be slapped down by the courts, hard.
I do not think this is primarily about money (or competition of the Lexicon with the Scottish book; that is just a legal justification), but about JKR not wanting someone else to publish her own material for profit, particularly as it would encourage others to do the same. Which is perfectly reasonable.
I don’t think WB should have any claim here and don’t like them being involved. Just because they make the movies doesn’t mean they should own Harry Potter.
BigRonFan:
Dictionaries & Encyclopedias = Archiving real facts from real world, no one owns this information.
HP Lexicon = Archiving fictional facts invented by JK Rowling, information that Jo owns.
Surely you see the difference???
There are plenty of entries in Encyclopedias about fiction and some entirely about fiction actually
Just luv how some ppl r steamrolling Sva- W B doesnt need help
No matter from what perspective you look at it, what Steve VA and RDR Books tried and are trying to do is wrong, illegal, and unethical. They are only after the money. JKR owns the copyrights and so does WB because they paid to have the rights. Neither Steve VA nor RDR Books own any part of HP, and for that reason they can not intend to sell the original content, only re-arranged, for personal profit and call it lawful business. Other books in the market are not infringing the law because they offer either their take or an analysis of the books, that being their creation, and therefore lawfully permitted for sale with proper credit given to JKR & WB for the use of their info for the creation of THEIR work. Also, in response to people’s comments about this not taking away from JKR’s profit, it is definitely hindering JKR and WB’s profits (whether or not they will want the profits from their encyclopedia, it is theirs), and it is especially sad and cruel because the profits from the Scottish Book (HP Encyclopedia by JKR) will be destined for charity. So, unfortunately, Steve VA and RDR Books are directly affecting the profits of the JKR-made Encyclopedia, and consequently affecting the money that the charity/ charities would receive. It’s a shame that RDR Books and Steve VA would not call it quits and accept that they have not produced anything from their own creation that is lawful to sell. They could have just avoided this lawsuit and all the drama by just changing the book from a copyright-infringing encyclopedia to a book on Steve VA’s take on the HP World which would have been a huge success. I really do regret it has come to this because Steve (and the HP Lexicon team) have worked very hard on the Lexicon, and he doesn’t deserve the drama. But, oh well… Even if the intentions were good, the deed was illegal, and here come the consequences.
Finalizing… Good Luck Jo! Steve, if you read this, I hope you can get something good from the experience! RDR Books, rest assured that I will boycott all your products for your stealthy, greedy and deceitful intentions and actions!
To clarify something from my post… I meant to say: “Other books in the market are not infringing the law because they offer either their take or an analysis of the books, that [analysis] being their creation, and therefore lawfully permitted for sale with proper credit given to JKR & WB for the use of their info for the creation of THEIR [analytic] work.”
I know you guys have for sure contacted Steve by now and asked about it, but are most likely restraining saying anything about it without actual quotage from Steve (whether written or on PotterCast), especially while legal negotiations are still going on.
I just find it very weird with all the things that we have gotten from Steve that this book was made. I mean all past quotage shows that he’d never do something like this, but he did. Hopefully by the end of this we find out what went down. Until then we wait.
All I can say is that this has to be the biggest legal things fans have payed attention to since it went into question if fansites were legal some years back, all because we love both sides of the argument. We all love Jo of course, and Steve was always a great guy, not to mention that the Lexicon is amazing. But I’m siding with Jo on this, as I always have, especially with the way RDR has been handling this case.
I don’t know.
I would buy the HPL by SVA if it came out jsut because I am very hungry for any information about the series. That does not in any way mean that my buying SVA lexicon book would influence my decision on buying the Scottish Book. I don’t think charities would lose out much, at least not from the real fans.
I will buy anything JRK ever publishes that is Harry Potter related (and I hope for everyone’s sake she changes her mind and publishes more books on HP universe, even if they don’t have Harry Potter as the main character).
That said, I just hope that SVA doesn’t take Lexicon offline because I really like the site.