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McGonagall’s Cat: the issue is not whether it is a tribute to Jo or if it promotes her interests or whether it makes money or anything else. It is a work of plagiarism and Jo and WB have not only a right but a duty to protect that copyrighted work. A win for Jo is a win for all creative people who seek to protect their own work, the work they have slaved over. Why should anyone be allowed to make money off of Jo’s hard work just because they are capable of copy and pasting her work into a new format?

Additionally, a win for Jo will NOT affect fanfic, wizard rock or other web sites. She has been an amazing supporter of creative endeavors based on HP online, which are free to access. Copyright prohibits people from making money from plagiarizing other people’s work. That is all.

If you had spent more than 17 years of your life on a project of the magnitude of Harry Potter, (or, what the heck, six months of your life on one smallish novel) would you want some “fan” to come along, paste it into an alphabetical format and be allowed to sell it as his own? I think not. If Steve and RDR win this case there could come a time when they will be able to sue JO for publishing her own encyclopedia, as they could make the case that she plagiarized from them for some of the content… which was all based on her own work! If you have been to the Lexicon online, I am sure you have seen the page after page of warnings from Steve not to copy anything from his site because it is “copyrighted.” It staggers the mind.

@younger granger: I understand yours( and many others) desire to see RDR suffer through a long trial and lose lots of money and whatnot, but I don’t want to see Jo go through that.

She’s already saying that the trial is destroying her creative mind, whether that’s a sort of threat or not, I’m not sure. But I am sure I wouldn’t want to lose the Scottish Book over the loss of some money from RDR.

Like most I just wish this had never started, I still have some respect for SVA, and wouldn’t hold a grudge for him no matter how the case ended.

Ugh, i am hoping Jo will win and from what it sounds like she will, but you never know… I want to feel sorry for Steve, but i can’t…

No matter who wins I will only buy the one writen by JKR. It is her books, characters, and world….. Only she deserves my hard earned money when it comes to Harry Potter!!!

Wthout here RDR would be nothing!!!

I meant to say without HER…RDR would be nothing!!!

It he rewrote it and used cited his sources properly it wouldn’t be such a big deal… (which i think he should do right away and i would tell any of my students that. yes page numbers are to be used not only when using quotes but paraphrasing as well….either that or my English professors will have have a ballistic fit) I think she is perfectly in the right to do what she’s doing… Content of the book aside. Not citing sources properly is setting a bad example to the students who would be reading his book as a reference. I say, call it a rough draft and go back… add some new work…perhaps some pictures of wolves and flora and fauna that is mentioned in the books… add some extra resources for credibility and a polite nod to show that others have gone before you. a few apoligies in the form of a gentle limrick would be lovely as well. anything to make Jo smile.

It he rewrote it and used cited his sources properly it wouldn’t be such a big deal… (which i think he should do right away and i would tell any of my students that. yes page numbers are to be used not only when using quotes but paraphrasing as well….either that or my English professors will have have a ballistic fit) I think she is perfectly in the right to do what she’s doing… Content of the book aside. Not citing sources properly is setting a bad example to the students who would be reading his book as a reference. I say, call it a rough draft and go back… add some new work…perhaps some pictures of wolves and flora and fauna that is mentioned in the books… add some extra resources for credibility and a polite nod to show that others have gone before you. a few apoligies in the form of a gentle limrick would be lovely as well. anything to make Jo smile.

I agree with the Leaky crew when they said that you are not a true HP fan if you insist on doing something that your “Idol” has already asked nicely not to do. I do not feel a bit sorry for SVA, no matter what the outcome of the trial will be. This issue will have a HUGE impact on his credibility as an “HP Fan” but now, he’s basically banished from the fandom. I wouldn’t spend a single hard-earned penny on his book. I will save that money and buy the REAL scottish book, may it be 1 or 100, I wouldn’t mind spending that much.. because I know the proceeds will go to charity, and not someone’s stinky pocket.

Go Gryffindors!

I work in a bookstore….. if it does get published…. it will be lovingly placed in my collage of dvds and random book diplay. covered in bunnies of bears never to be heard from again. No one dares mess with my displays and mess up the integrity of my design (or steal my quill) well that is my game plan. (just had a random vision of librarians and teachers shaking their fingers and randomly dancing in the streets West Side Story style. snap snap…finger wave…finger wave.)

it sickens me that SVA used to claim to be a ravenclaw… I always felt ravenclaw was the house i was most akin to. he has turned into a stereotypical slytherin , though no offence ment to john noe, he is a cool slyty.

McGonagall’s Cat: Not meaning to be rude, but have you been following the trial at all? I mean, I have nothing personal against Steve, but anyone who claims to have written a ‘comprehensive guide’ that is only 9% of original work shouldn’t be able to call themselves a writer. Or a potter fan. If Jo says its sloppy lazy and incorrect, I believe her. Its not as if this is for money. She’s trying to make it so that Comic Relief won’t make less money from her book. I’d rather people’s money towards a good cause that Steve pocket.

If this does go to print, I’ll be going to all the bookstores in my area and hide the Lexicon behind the wonderful displays of ‘Rainbow Party’ and ‘Gossip Girl’. Where it belongs.

“I have no problem for Steve to make a little money from all the work he’s put into it collecting and categorizing the details from JKR’s books.”

Posted by McGonagall’s Cat on April 24, 2008 @ 11:14 PM

McGonagall’s Cat

I understand your sympathy for SVA’s hard work, but unfortunately this case is about more than SVA or JKR. What RDR’s attornies are trying to do is broadly expand the definition of legal “reference books” to include works that are almost wholly copying and include a tiny percentage of original commentary or analysis.

I know you are sympathetic to SVA for his work, but if he wins, other people who you might consider less deserving will be able to take most of the work of authors who have far less money and popularity than JKR. Let’s say instead of SVA who has worked on his website for 9 years, we have someone who spends a few months cutting, pasting, and lightly re-organizing content from a book by a part-time author who can hardly pay the bills. You probably wouldn’t feel the same way about the legal issues if these were the players instead of SVA and JKR, but this would be exactly the same legal situation that we are seeing now, and if RDR wins this case, the re-organizer will be able to take the work of the struggling author every time. What would be the incentive in struggling to be a successful author if anyone can take your work like this at any time?

You shouldn’t think less of JKR for this. You should think more of her. She desperately doesn’t WANT this lawsuit, but she feels responsible to other authors, so she is putting aside things she’d rather be doing to fulfill her responsibilities. That’s not greed, that’s character.

@ McGon’s Cat if you want more information about what the above posters are responding to you I suggest that you look at what Elizabeth posted in the second day of the RDR/WB trial. She explained, with great detail, the idea of Fair Use and copyright infringement. I don’t have her legal mind, but she did state that there were 4 components to which the judge would rule. The judge, however, warned that if they didn’t reach a settlement he was sure it would go to appeals process. Our legal system hasn’t caught up with the internet, which is of course why SVA/RDR are claiming they had a right to publish the book, so it seems something that one of the higher courts will have to decide. Elizabeth did state out of the 4 components RDR had a strong argument for 3 out of the 4, the one they were weakest in was that the majority of the book was completely lifted from JKR’s novels. As you see this is an infringement upon the law. As well as, your own personal opinions about plagarism versus copyright infringement. Elizabeth stated it was copyright infringement and I state it’s plagarism, because if you publish something without adding the correct citations—regardless if in the title it specifies companion to HP—you are considering fabricating previous authors’ information as your own, plagarism. However technically it is copyright infringement.

Additionally, prior to JKR’s willingness to allow fandom to continue on the web, many authors squashed out any type of fandom, because it was their material to regulate. So, in accordance with precedence and copyright infringement, unless the book is dramatically altered it’s against the law.

Unfortunately, this all could have been avoided if SVA heeded the cease and desist letters he received, not to mention the accounted documentation of JKR/WB contacting SVA requesting to see the alleged book. Since SVA responded with go to the Lexicon and hit print, it seems he isn’t just ripping off JKR, but all of the fans that participated to build that site and who originally could use it freely.

If I can’t skate my way through research papers by plagarizing than why the ** should an adult figure be able to rip off creative fiction novels? There is no intuitive sense to me here. Even though, as I said Elizabeth stated that because the website was allowed originally there maybe wiggle room for RDR to assert they had consent to publish a book. But it’s just not logical to me. If you have a legitimate legal argument for your case, I would really like to hear it, because although you may have strong feelings about the issue it doesn’t mean it’s infallible or in the best interests of justice.

this autumn? LMAO he has no clue about the american legal system if he thinks it will be all clear by then this has a fair chance of being in court for years to come.

McGonagall's Cat  your a fool and i have to wonder if your on RDR's book payroll  SVA is trying to get away with  theft plain and simple  and he should not be allowed to do so.  as for confident  about rdr's case from all i have seen it could go either way I want Jo and wb to win and they should win

i hope it never gets published! i think this tummons guys, rdr and mr hammer are kidding themselves if they think that they’re going to win.

This weekend I shall give away my GOF and OP (1st edition) hardcover copies away to my neighbours for free, so it is kind of charity. I still have the paperback copies, though ;-)

And the more I think of it, yes, I want to have the RDR book. When reading and re-reading the Potter series I spent enough time on the lexicon site,

1. studying the lists with the British Use; 2. studying the time lines; 3. studying the lists with the differences between the US- and the British editions; 4. reading some essays; 5. reading other entries mostly of the locations; 6. checking names e.g. ‘Dumbledore’; 6. and yes, checking about how to open the doors on Jo’s site.

I would not have been able to find any of this in the HP-Books themselves. More, they lexicon has been a key to Harry’s world which of course is Jo’s world as well. 1 – 5 have been a tremendous help to me to understand the books; you know, not all people in the big wide world have been raised as english native speakers. And I did not find any other resource in the web that would have compiled so much organised information. The Lexicon was very helpful when I wrote an article about the marketing hype and about being fascinated by the Rowling-Potter-World; I wrote the article shortly after the GOF-Film was released. It is still on the net; no, I did not get any money for the article as this was in a kind of experimental web-magazine, I do hope no one will prosecute me about the three pictures I put into the article (they rights are not Warners’, by the way).

http://www.raketa.at/index.php?id=5312

So the book would be something to remember me of the time I spent with the Potter-Books. Well of course I would be able to print out everything in the lexicon. But in a way that’s not an option. First it would take too much time, and it would be expensive. Secondly that’s not the thing to do for someone who likes so much the feeling of holding a book in her hand. At last I want to be in a position to decide myself if I want to have the RDR-Book or not, and not let anybody else decide in my place if I can have it or not – not Warner Brothers, not Joanne K. Rowling and not a Judge.

Having only just finished reading the court documents, I must say that I am more convinced than ever that RDR should never be allowed to publish this so-called Lexicon. Jo gave numerous examples where SVA’s entries have misrepresented the HP world, which is actually quite an achievement since he copied so much. I had the impression that whenever Steve had actually added some kind of comment (no samples of true analysis were given), he very often was in the wrong. I mean, honestly, how can anyone assume that “Alohomora” is derived from the Hawaian “Aloha”? There’s no relation whatsoever between these two terms! I didn’t know either that Alohomora is a term used in West African geomancy, but JKR is absolutely right in suggesting that somebody (= a responsible author) who intended to create a useful and comprehensive research book or reference book would have taken the trouble to actually do some research. And Mr Hammer implying that the entry “death” in the lexicon was actually about the character meeting the three brothers in the Tales of the Beedle the Bard and not about ‘death’ in general, this is way beyond being completely ridiculous. Steve should be ashamed of himself.

I absolutely understand why JKR is so angry about this sloppy work. I read some of the reference books on HP which were allowed to get published, and I could name quite a few which did little more than paraphrasing the plots. Still, most of them at least added some background info on mythological origins, linguistic allusions etc. Still, I would not consider them scholarly works, but obviously Warner and JKR have been really generous in the past. Steve and RDR really must have been going way too far when JKR decided to stop their “work”.

Did somebody else get the feeling that the judge is, ahm, a little slow??? And I agree with some of the previous comments on Mr Hammer: It certainly would have helped his case if he were familiar with the books he is discussing …. But since I am on Jo’s side, I do not really mind that he’s obviously not a very good lawyer …

I didn’t really understand what was this all about but if it was about SVA’s lexicon publication then I will say : GO TO HELL!!!

no, zhiyal, the judge is rather sharp. after all he got all of the books for free :-)