“RDR, the publishers of the lexicon, have described it as a “David and Goliath battle”, which would be an accurate metaphor if, instead of smacking Goliath on the kisser with a slingshot, David had rather gone through Goliath’s collected fiction, whacked some choice paragraphs into an order of his choosing, put his own name on the cover, and then tried to make a quick buck off someone else’s work.”
”...the lexicon isn’t an encyclopedia in the normal sense, consisting of facts that are in the public domain, but something parasitic on years of hard work by Rowling. Her present bank balance is irrelevant to the case, except in so far as she is one of the few British authors who can afford to sue when their work is used without permission or payment; in that sense, she is defending the rights of thousands of writers, most of whom don’t earn enough to live on.”
Thank goodness some people actually get the whole point of the case!! Its not about money but about SVA stealing Jo’s work and calling it his own! Go Jo!! I’ll be so angry if she doesnt win this case!!
I’m glad that Joan Smith pointed out the difference between reference guides to real-world information as opposed to worlds created in the minds of authors. i also am glad she pointed out the far-reaching effects of Stanford and RDR trying to (in my opinion) expand the definition of Fair Use. While I think Fair Use is important so that people can write about and discuss those fictional worlds, I think at some point if you expand Fair Use it becomes detrimental to the original author and robs them of the ability to benefit from their own hard work and creativity.
THANK YOU! It’s not a real world encyclopedia, it’s a Potter encyclopedia and Jo is in the right. She has every right to defend her creation, as every writer does. Just because she can afford to sue, doesn’t mean she’s wrong. RDR and Vander Ark are trying to make money off of her work. Shame on them.
The “Pro Jo”-articles seem harder to find, though. Here again some critique, sober considerations in the Financial Times about ‘Humility and Harry Potter’ (Apr 18).
I’m with Jo all the way on this. It is her intellectual property and she has the right to say yay or nay to it’s use in books for profit. Other commentary books are scholary works – not this one. If Mugglenet could sease and desist when asked to, why can’t SVA and the Lexicon?
I seriously have a headache after all this nasty mess. Jo is right, SVA is wrong, end of story. Glad some reporters out there can see the forest for the trees.
The guy doesn’t know what he’s talking about. The suit is about the Lexicon BOOK, not the website. The book looks nothing like the website. Why is that so hard to understand? Even one of the Mugglenet guys got it wrong, at this late date.
I think the reason why we’re not hearing much of pro-Jo, from the media, is because they don’t want to defend her. They like knocking people of their pedestals. It’s rather sad that the media is no longer the persuer of the facts.
In the real world, publishers of scholarly works frequently imploy an indexer [who is NOT the author] to compile an index of a work to make it of more value to the reader. This is normal. SVDA is a librarian and an indexer. The main difference here is the scale of the project, and the fact that the source work is fiction. People who accuse SVDA of “not being creative” and “putting his name to someone else’s work” are simply missing the point: that is what indexers DO. The other difference is that the indexer is generally working for the author – or at any rate the author’s publisher – and frequently it is the author who has to pay the indexer to do the job. JKR is getting a thoroughly professional job done for nothing.
In this case a fan has paid the fiction author the compliment of taking her fictional work seriously.
SVDA – and his team – have put in years of hard, unpaid work into this compilation. He has worked to scrupulous standards of accuracy and has made it crystal clear if any associated item (like the essays) are speculative. I cannot see that that it is unfair if he and his team make a small profit on the venture in return for all their hard work.
My own feeling is that it is Warner Bros – who want to keep the HP “brand” to themselves – who have whipped up this and that it is they who are being dogs in the manger. They probably don’t like the fact that SVDA’s scupulous accuracy extends to pointing out where and when the films contradict the books – and that he regards the films per se as “not canon”, that is, as “factually” unreliable.
Any encyclopaedia that JKR writes in the future (and when will that be, may I ask ?) will be full of creative material because she – not SVDA – is the creative artist, and she has in her imagination all kinds of material that has not appeared in the books but will enhance and expand the published series.
The two books (Lexicon & Encyclopaedia) will not be competitors; they will be complementary - even if the hard copy Lexicon is still in print when the Scottish Encyclopaedia is finally published. In any case I bet the majority of fans will buy both. I would certainly be prepared to!
"I really wish I could hear that great hairy moron trying to defend himself... 'There's no 'arm in 'im, 'onest --'... that hippogriff's as good as dead --"
Thank goodness some people actually get the whole point of the case!! Its not about money but about SVA stealing Jo’s work and calling it his own! Go Jo!! I’ll be so angry if she doesnt win this case!!