Just imagine Noe running in screaming, “Troll in the dungeon…just thought you should know!” It keeps me reading!

Whew! Just finished Day 1.

Thoughts:

JKR was great. I thought her best point was in illustrating how her work was copied without adding analysis. I thought the weakness was that she seemed a little evasive in answering about whether the Lexicon could be useful. (this doesn’t bother me because I think under fair use that you can argue that even if something is useful, it is still infringing if it’s made up so completely of stolen parts).

Roger Rappaport was better than I thought he would be. I thought his best point was in coming across as a humble man who was being manhandled by an overzealous corporation. I thought the weakness was that he really appeared to have dealt in very bad faith about providing a manuscript to WB and also appeared very adept at dealing in half-truths with just about everyone he was in contact with, including people he was selling the book to (then acting innocent or clueless when he was called on it).

From day 1, page 75: 13 MR. HAMMER: Exhibit 46? It is not on 46. 14 MS. CENDALI: I believe it is. 15 MR. HAMMER: Well, magically there are two different 16 46s. We don’t have Dagbert Pips. 17 THE COURT: I can’t find it. 18 MS. CENDALI: Does Mr. Pips appear? 19 MR. HAMMER: Of course. Pips always goes by the last 20 name. 21 MS. CENDALI: P for pips. 22 THE COURT: While you’re talking, I can’t find it. 23 MS. CENDALI: It is in Exhibit 46. 24 THE COURT: Page? 25 MS. CENDALI: Page 15.

I find this particular exchange to be quite telling. What does it tell me? That if I am reading this, I must be overly obsessed.

@mr. blood – right on. i feel the same way!

23 Q. Well, let’s look—let’s put on the screen the entry in 24 the Lexicon Exhibit 1 for Florean Fortescue’s ice crime parlor. 25 Could you read that entry to the Court.

LOL “ICE CRIME” XD

Screw stanford and their transcrips, i want the pottercast’s first hand notes and drawings, including the infamous Mr. Hammer ones!

Urgh, how can Steve Vander Ark cry in court about how he’s been pushed from the fandom if he will literally go as far as to disrespect Jo’s wishes and work to her face in a court of law?

(The piece of the transcript to which I am referring): 14 Q. Do you consider yourself a member of that community? 15 A. I did, yes. 16 Q. Well, I’m sorry, you no longer consider yourself a member

17    of that community?
                18    A.  Yeah, I do.
                19             THE COURT:  You no longer do?
                20             THE WITNESS:  I do.  I do.
                21             THE COURT:  "I do."

22             THE WITNESS:  Yes, sir.  I do consider myself a part
                23    of that community, yes.
                24    Q.  This is evidently an emotionally-charged question for you.
                25    Can you explain why this is so charged?
                 1    A.  It's been --
                 2    Q.  All right.  We'll go on.  Are you able to answer the
                 3    question?
                 4    A.  Yes.  It's been difficult because there's been a lot of
                 5    criticism obviously, and that was never the intention.  But --
                 6    and I understand where that comes from, but it's been very,
                 7    very difficult.  This has been like an important part of my
                 8    life for the past nine or ten years.  And to have it turn
                 9    into -- can we go on, please?

I am finding it slightly amusing that they’re spelling ‘canon’ ‘cannon’ ... seriously. I am such a nerd. But these transcripts are fascinating, thanks for putting them up Kristin!

The transcripts have been very enlightening. I find it difficult not to side with Jo, and not just because she’s the creator of our beloved Harry Potter.

Even if you don’t talk about the value Steve Vander Ark is adding to the Lexicon, not putting quotation marks around quotations is considered plagiarism. I’d get an F in my college writing class if I did that. Actually, I probably would’ve gotten an F for that even in my high school English class.

I would think that Fair Use refers to the general information in the books. You can talk about it for sure, as the other companion books have done. You can dissect the tiniest little nuance of her words. But if you’re going to quote her, you’d better cite it. And if almost your entire book is made up of these quotations, isn’t that just like….oh, I don’t know….copyright infringement?

“For example, the evidence will show that there are 274 entries in the Lexicon pulled from Ms. Rowling’s 64-page Quidditch Through The Ages … Similarly, in her 63-page book, Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, there are 222 Lexicon entries pulled from this book. As you will hear Ms. Rowling discuss, there is no reason to buy these books if you have the Lexicon”.

This is somewhat of a fair point. I personally am a big fan of Harry Potter and never actually bought the 2 companion books for myself until very recently. I read copies that belonged to others and used the Lexicon web site to find facts from them afterwards. Still, as a big fan, I always intended to buy them and eventually did. The Lexicon is a poor substitute for the books themselves even if it has all of the facts that the book brings. There is value in the book form in which it is written. Had Vander Ark published a book before hand, I probably would have bought it to have as a reference while I was discussing the books, but this would not stop me from buying JKR’s books.

“The same is true with regard to not needing to buy or read her wizard cards that talk about various wizards through history she created, because all of their content is duplicated in the Lexicon.”

This is a good point. I never bought the cards and don’t even know where to buy them. I actually didn’t know that they existed until I saw them quoted on the Lexicon as canon. If indeed the Lexicon quotes the entire contents of the cards then perhaps there is no need to buy them and this is a good complaint by JKR that they are infringing on her rights. On the other hand, a real fan may want to own them as collectors items or just to browse through them when bored as we do the books. This is obviously not so as I don’t own them and don’t plan on it. Had I known about them a year or two ago when I was more into HP I may have actually bought them, but now there is no need because I can get all the facts from the Lexicon web site. But, it is not the site that is being sued it is RDR books who are trying to put it into book form.

Today is, among other things, World Book and Copyright Day!! Hooray!!

Oh, and one other thing. I totally wish JKR had been on my high school Mock Trial team. She’d have torn down the opposing team’s cross in a snap!

hahah mr hammer

Fascinating read. I’ve only had a chance to glance through most of it, but read through all the testimony of JKR (I love her!) and Roger Rapoport.

I’m now actually feeling a little sympathy for poor ol’ Roger. It’s a very tough business being a writer and running a small publishing house. I can’t get out of my mind the image of RDR schlepping from city to city cold-calling at bookstores to drum up sales. (Oh! I just realized why salesmen are called “drummers”...) Hyperbole (I won’t say lies) sales talk to buyers around the world. He must’ve thought he’d caught the brass ring when he got SVA’s signed contract.

My initial picture of the situation hasn’t changed: RDR hoped to make a quick killing by rushing The Lexicon into stores before the copyright holders got wind of it. He was flying by the seat of his pants.

And, he got caught.

“Fair Use” may have elevated him from Easy Money to A Cause, but it’s pretty clear he’d rather have the money.