An update comes today regarding the ongoing JKR/WB vs. RDR Books trial. Publisher RDR Books voluntarily withdrew its appeal in the RDR Books vs. WB/JKR
case concerning the publication of an unauthorized Harry Potter encyclopedia. The
publisher is working on releasing a version of the book in question
that complies with the judge's ruling, which indicated that the
original book copied heavily from the Harry Potter books. There was no settlement in the case.
The Christopher Little Agency released the following statement today:
"We are delighted that this matter is finally and favourably resolved
and that J.K. Rowling's rights -- and indeed the rights of all authors
of creative works -- have been protected. We are also pleased to hear
that rather than continue to litigate, RDR have themselves decided to
publish a different book prepared with reference to Judge Patterson's
decision."
Complete trial coverage from Leaky can be found via this link.
SVDA could have written it properly in the first place, and I hope he attempts to now. From the talks I saw him give at Prophecy, he had the audience wrapped around his finger, and if he wrote like that, with commentary and some research behind him, they could be decent books. Especially his last talk, about searching for HP, (which now that I look I see is already for sale), most of the audience, which was so large it had to be moved to the biggest room available, were in tears and feeling the magic by the end. I have always felt it was more RDR wanting to make some quick bucks, and convincing Steve that they were on the right path and all would be fine. Well, it probably was for RDR, but it wasn’t for the rest of us who had our hearts tied to this wonderful fandom. Although I’ve tried to remain fairly neutral watching from a distance, I was happy Jo won, and am relieved now that RDR has pulled out of it. You may be a Slytherin Steve, but I think you would have come back at the end of DH with Slughorn to fight too. In the end, we’re all on the good side, right?
Ah, how sweet it is. Victory. And, yes, it does seem misleading to call it the Lexicon when it won’t look anything like the website. But then when has this gang ever been anything but misleading.
The book is $24.95, but for $15 you can get the deluxe “autographed” edition and help pay off RDR Books massive legal bills. This will be a collector’s item. I kid you not. They will be charging $15 for Lexicon Steve’s autograph.
wow…finally it has ended. If they didn’t do it in the first place…well it would be the same today lol. They didn’t do much did they?