Shii: Please, stop trying to confuse the SITE with the BOOK – they are two entirely diffferent things.

Jo’s comments were about the book and only the book.

I’ve never been all that impressed with this case on SVA behalf anyway!bUT i HOPE THIS CASE IS RESOLVED-bad karma is not a good thing!!!!!! I am however,in favor of the belly-They can’t put all of us down. Jim

I’m a big fan of JKR and the series. I’ve also been a frequent user of the lexicon. If it were me, I wouldn’t have pressed on with publishing had I heard from WB/JKR…but that’s just me.

What I can’t get over is the underlying reason most of you guys/gals are mad at SVA…that he would dare use JKR’s work to make money. My opinion of it is that he isn’t the first, or the last to make a buck off her work (right or wrong). Everyone has different talents that they have/will apply in said pursuit of money from Harry. Melissa will eventually make a lot of money from her book about franchise/fandom (talent in writing). Emerson has basically said he’s made a fortune off the franchise (talent in overall vision and creativity with his site). SVA would/could have made a fortune off the franchise (talent in organizing what was spread out over seven books). I could go on about the people who have/will make money off the franchise, but it isn’t necessary….SVA wouldn’t be the first or last to do so.

As for what SVA has said in interviews, court, emails, etc…none of us will ever know what is behind his statements. It is certainly possible that they’ve coached him…and maybe even forced him to to say/not-say certain things. I think this is very plausible considering what RDR now has on the line. The point is that none of us will ever know.

I know it’s been brought up in a couple posts before, but I am very disappointed in JKR because she’s started to personally attack SVA and the lexicon. She/WB have used his site’s material, she was quoted about how much she liked the site, and even gave the thing an award. Now all of a sudden the lexicon is sloppy and misses the point….come -on. I think it was a month or so she questioned his “fan-hood” or whatever you’d want to call it…could there be anything more ridiculous than this? This guy spent 8-9 years maintaining a site because he wanted to, because he loved the work so much….doesn’t seem like a bad fan to me. Finally, since the beginning of all of this I feel like JKR has insulted our intelligence. Does she really want me to believe that if SVA publishes an encyclopedia, it would take away from the sale of her encyclopedia? This is the most preposterous thing I’ve ever heard. If there were a lexicon encyclopedia, would I buy it? Maybe. If I did buy it, would said purchase stop me from buying an encyclopedia by JKR herself? Absolutely not. I’m confident that 99.9% of you would have said the same thing.

All that being said, I can definitively say that I’ll read whatever JKR writes in the future. I think she’s a great writer, and I’ll always be a fan. I just wish a) this would be over, and b) people would stop acting like SVA was the worst man in the history of the world…he, like Melissa, like wizard-rock bands, like Emerson is just a fan trying to make a buck off of his passion.

Oh my god! I hate when jo gets mad! Is it true she called the lexicon “sloppy?” Even if he win or if this whole suit never happend, i still wouldn’t buy the book? Who would pay money for something we have right here? This whole thisng is stupid and i hope it ends soon…

I hope SVA is comming to his senses and will drop this whole mess

Well said php. I basically agree with your statement. I just can’t get over how incredibly one-eyed Harry Potter fans are when it comes to their author.

This issue is far from a straight-forward case as the judge himself has said, so people burning SVA at the proverbial stake is far from productive.

And Jo has, I fear, painted herself into a corner by going after one person and not the many others that have also benefitted from her work.

And by the way, while I understand Melissa’s reasons for not continuing to report on the case, I hope we’ll soon see a detailed report on what SVA said in court. I think that would only be fair.

phd:

I believe that there is a difference between ‘making a buck off of his passion’ and pure plagiarism. Melissa’s book is about the fans/fandom of HP, not simply the entire world of HP that JKR created. She will be using references from the book and will include a list of her sources, therefore credit will go where credit is due. I don’t believe that Vander Ark is giving credit where it is due. An encyclopedia of JKR’s world is just that. There may be no critiques, no essays, no original thoughts on the series for all we know, and that is why WB felt the need to sue, and why JKR supported that decision.

Other books will have complied will copyright laws – kept open communications with WB and JKR, which is why they were allowed to be published. RDR books has refused to do any such thing. Why? Because, in my opinion, they are just money-grabbing, attention-seeking slugs. Teir case holds no substance, and yet I will be very sad if the judge rules in favour of RDR.

i fully support JKR and her decision to stand against such blatant plagiarism.

I still can’t believe hebrought it this far…it’s terrible…

Anita:

I was thinking the same thing, because even his statement about the Lexicon being the better parts of nine years of his life, was verbatim what JKR had stated when interviewed about Harry Potter’s world after DH was released.

Additonally, do you all think if JKR is going to write a more detailed version of Madam Pince in the “Scottish Book” after this incident, because I would?!

Also, I studied court testimonies, and what we have learned is that Van Der Ark is highly coached here. Nothing he said was improv’d or straight from the heart, he has to prove his case, and the best way to do that is appeal to the Judge that he didn’t want to waste tax payers dollars for the publication of this book. It’s all an act that’s also why he has avoided the media, SVA isn’t making his own decisions right now.

And to I’m right you’re….full of _. Perhaps, you should start with facts to instill an argument versus your personal opinions. I know how cool it must feel to go against the grain on this one, but SVA is ripping off the fans….all those that helped him set up the Lexicon’s information, printing false information, and asking us to pay him versus leaving the Lexicon as is on-line for all to use. [He’s the one who thinks the Potter fans are stupid and won’t realize the difference]. This is my opinion based on the facts above, an argument.

Though I don’t condone the personal attacks on SVA, but I understand Jo’s anger and frustration with him. She showed support for his site, and gave him appreciation for it. Now with him trying to publish it as a book, he is pretty much trying to stab her in the back. He choose greed first, and being a fan second.

My first response to his ‘upset’ is ‘aw diddums’. Sorry but I have no sympathy for him.

SVA should have consulted his OWN attorney before agreeing to writing a book with this publisher. I have no doubt that this Rapaport is a predator, SVA sounds like he was duped, but he should have known better.

if he is a true fan, he should drop the RDR book! It upsets our JKR! Gosh!

I think there are is an important point that is getting lost here.

It’s really very difficult to “get out” of a publishing contract. All of the commentators who are saying that SVA should have just dropped the idea after JKR objected to it don’t seem to realize that.

I know this because a blog writer I read frequently tried for a year to get out of having to write a book that she signed a contract to write and in the end was still forced into writing it.

Also, the legal issues really aren’t obvious. Given that there is a court case going on where even the judge is saying its murky, I think it is not unreasonable to say that when SVA signed the contract, he had been convinced that it was legal – he says that when he wrote on the website it would be illegal, it was an assumption based on a layman’s understanding of the law. A lawyer talking to him may well have easily convinced that he didn’t understand the nuances of the law.

And, let us be a little real about the amount of profit that SVA could have ever expected as a first time writer with a 10,000 book run – and then split between the main website writers. Saying that SVA was only in it for the money is kind of stretching it in my mind – there just isn’t enough money involved.