I think Steve is not being entirely truthful. He implyed that Jo told him there were no edits he could make to the book, but I think it was RDR Books that told that to him

I just can’t get over has easily this guy can talk about what he’s going and still think what he is doing is right. And I agree with Katie, I do believe they did tell him there were things he could do to fix it, but he said no.

i am absolutely disgusted that he is falsely believing this bowl crap!!

if he wins nobody nobody NOBODY buy the dang blasted book

What I find so entertaining about this whole thing is Steve’s argument that other people have made money from HP other than Jo. Wrock, the wand-making people, etc, etc, etc. While that is entirely true, that other people have “capitalized” (as he would probably say) on HP, what he fails to understand is that Wizard Rock does NOT involve blatant plagarism and theft of Jo’s text. Maybe if we started hearing some songs that basically put the books, verbatim, to music, that might substantiate what Steve is talking about, but until then, he’s wrong. He is wrong. Plain and simple. He KNEW that Jo has always planned on writing the Scottish Book, which will probably be the most significant thing to happen to the fandom since, well, Deathly Hallows, but, well, you get the picture. And now she might not write it. If this lawsuit, if Steve’s fair-use “righteousness” causes us to lose the Scottish Book and also the ability to have a fandom for other series, can he call himself a fan? I vote no.

If he wins (God forbid).... Boycott?

How can he sit there and say that there was no other way around a lawsuit, when all he had to do was edit the book to add in commentary and not plagiarize? And to make it sound as though he offered to make changes before seems rather inconsistent with everything else we’ve heard from both side.

If this book gets published, I’m certainly not buying it. I’m behind JKR and the rights of authors to protect their intellectual property.

I really don’t understand how he can say stuff like that. I had to stop listening to the interview about halfway through and its only 5 minutes long. I was just getting to angry. How can he really think what he is doing is right?!

I wanted to come here to express my unqualified support for the Lexicon and their publication. The book SVA is trying to publish is no different from works published in dozens of other fandoms over the past 30 years. He is not committing plagiarism or any kind of theft. In fact, he has spent years between JKR books working as an unpaid press agent for the Potter series.

No, the only reason JKR has for doing this is greed. She has already penned the ignominious end of her own series and desperately needs to explain her poor choices in her own words. And she obviously wants to reap every dollar possible in the process. And just because those dollars will be directed to charity does not make here any less greedy. I pray every day she loses this fight. Aside from deserving to lose, a win for her would make it difficult for legitimate future fandom activities to continue as they have for the past 30 years. For me, JKR should be restricted to destroying her own legacy. Overturning her efforts here will force her leave other fandoms alone and suffer her own stupidity alone.

If SVA and his staff do not care about making money on this project, why don’t they edit the book with references to the HP books that he is quoting, and let the book get published with all proceeds going to charity. I think that would be a fair compromise for both parties.

I’m confused by Steve’s statement in this interview: “Well, I offered that months and months ago… and said, ‘Is there other edits we can make?’ ‘Can we make changes?’ ... and they… no, there was nothing offered at all.”

From what I can recall from when I first heard of this case back in November, a similar statement was made by JKR regarding RDR’s resistance to contact her and her publishers in order to proofread the HP Lexicon Book and insure that it was up to an acceptable standard (did not infringe copyright). I’ve read enough articles now to make me dizzy wondering if this case really could have been avoided from the beginning. I think we all would feel better about this if there hadn’t appeared to be so much dodging and subversive action by RDR Books – either by avoiding/delaying sending a copy of the manuscript that was to be published, establishing contacts with other publishers and marketing the future book, etc. – rather than being cooperative up front (“Sure JKR/Scholastic/Bloomsbury, we’ll [RDR] send you a copy of the manuscript so we can make sure the level of direct quotation is acceptable.” or even “We’ve [RDR] been approached to publish a book form of the online HP Lexicon that would focus on the A to Z index of the world of Harry Potter. Would you have any objections to this or would you recommend any edits before we take it to print?”) For some reason, though, I doubt that this conversation ever occurred.

Whether SVA actually said these things to RDR, I’m not sure. Though I’d really like to know. I’m afraid that asking these things now might be too late.

Jeanne:

How can you possible say that it is not plagiarism when he uses the exact words that Jo used in her books without citing??? That’s kind of what plagiarism is!!! And it doesn’t even make sense to say that she’s greedy when the procedes will go to charity!!! That means that the money will not be going to her! Duh! Will the money that SVA gets be going to charity? No! So who’s really the greedy one? And if you really think these things:

“She has already penned the ignominious end of her own series and desperately needs to explain her poor choices in her own words. ” “For me, JKR should be restricted to destroying her own legacy. Overturning her efforts here will force her leave other fandoms alone and suffer her own stupidity alone.”

Then you’re not a fan of HP or Jo and I don’t know why you’re even on a HP fan site!!!

Jo, I support you all the way! I pray that you win this for the HP fans and especially for yourself! You do not deserve this!

Oh, and I will be boycotting the Lexicon “book” if it gets published.

“The book SVA is trying to publish is no different from works published in dozens of other fandoms over the past 30 years. “

Posted by Jeanne on April 20, 2008 @ 11:17 PM

No Jeanne, it IS different. RDR could not cite one similar book as precedent in their argument. Nothing in the past has copied as much. RDR had the chance to show us all these other books we keep hearing about, but funny, nothing even close was entered into evidence.

My questions are these:

1. SVA says that he asked JKR/WB if they wanted him to make any edits to make the Lexicon suitable for publication. JKR/WB claim they were never given access to the manuscript, instead being told to “just print the website,” which is one of the reasons they filed the suit. So the only way that SVA can be telling the truth is if JKR/WB were lying about never having a copy of the manuscript. Not making any judgments, just putting that out there.

2. If SVA cares nothing for money, then why even publish the Lexicon? Why not take his “copyrights” off the Lexicon pages and post a message on the site encouraging people to “just print it out”?

I didn’t read Nick’s full comment, but I do know of one song that directly lifts a passage from the book. I’m making this comment pretty quick but it’s from a metal wizard rock band called Voldemort. The passage about Voldemort’s rebirth in GOF. I don’t think this justifies Steve at all, I just thought it was interesting that this song did pretty much copy the text. But for now I have to get off so I can’t listen to the interview yet.

I’m also curious who the other 3 authors of the HP Lexicon book are, since I’ve never seen their names listed on the proposed cover of the book, nor in any of the court documents. Were these other authors also under contract with RDR books?

I wanted to come here to express my unqualified support for JKR and her efforts to support authors rights to their own work. The book SVA is trying to publish is VERY different from works published by the 100’s of other HP works. For a start, he didn’t write it, JKR did. 91% of it in fact, and he took her work without her permission, something his publishing contract stipulated he must obtain if the work he used was under copyright. The bits he did write he got mostly wrong. He said in this interview there were 4 authors, but in the evidence he submitted, and in the contract that he signed with RDR, it clearly states himself as the only author.

No, the only reason SVA and RDR are doing this is greed. They want to take anothers work and reap every dollar possible in the process. They aren’t even directing them at charity, which might make them less greedy, but still acting unlawfully without permission. I pray every day RDR loses this fight. Aside from deserving to lose, a win for them would make it very difficult for legitimate future fandom activities to continue as they have since fandom was born. For me, SVA is a tragedy. Someone whose self respect and reputation will be the price for a cheap shot at infamy. Overturning his efforts will force him to take a long hard look at his actions and maybe he might then devote his considerable talent to a more legitimate pursuit.