JKR vs. SVA
We haven’t spoken about the JK Rowling’s lawsuit against Steve Vander Ark and RDR Publishers lately. But a whole bunch of news stories have cropped up today rehashing the issue. Here is how the Associated Press is reporting what Jo has said in her lawsuit:
“I am deeply troubled by the portrayal of my efforts to protect and preserve the copyrights I have been granted in the Harry Potter books,” she wrote in court papers filed Wednesday in a lawsuit she brought against the small Muskegon, Mich., publisher.She said she intends to publish her own definitive Harry Potter encyclopedia.
“If RDR’s position is accepted, it will undoubtedly have a significant, negative impact on the freedoms enjoyed by genuine fans on the Internet,” she said.
“Authors everywhere will be forced to protect their creations much more rigorously, which could mean denying well-meaning fans permission to pursue legitimate creative activities.”
She added: “I find it devastating to contemplate the possibility of such a severe alteration of author-fan relations.”
I am still unsure how I feel about this. What are your thoughts?
Tags: Harry Potter Lexicon, JK Rowling, RDR Publishers, Steve Vander Ark
February 28th, 2008 at 10:14 pm
This whole thing makes so little sense to me…there already are encyclopedia-type volumes out there. And I have no idea why Rowling thinks anyone would say, “I’ve already got SVA’s encyclopedia, so I’m not going to buy Rowling’s.” That makes zero sense.
I think JKR needs to forget the encyclopedia idea. I don’t want her authoritative, infallible interpretations. Write more stories instead. Tell us more about the Wizarding World through stories, not an encyclopedia. Publish volumes of short stories, or write more books. Whatever. I’d be cool with any of that. I’m just not looking forward to the day when we step into the Hog’s Head Pub or Prognosticate with you two and have everyone come along and say, “No, that’s not a valid interpretation, because on page 347, paragraph 3, line 4, of the only Officially Allowed and Approved Encyclopedia of the Harry Potter World by JKR, it clearly states…”
February 28th, 2008 at 10:57 pm
I am a hopeless case. I would and still hope for a compromise. The amount of work Mr Vanderark put in to the lexicon and it’s use by so many fans for so long seems to be to make it his creation. Now JKR is the author and the stories belong to her. Now I can’t believe anything she would write would not be very close to the Lexicon in print. What I have been looking for was for each to compromise and work together. Get rid of the blood sucking lawyers and create something worth while for the sake of itself. I have heard she was going for charity money? Why give it to the lawyers? If Mr Vanderark is looking for a profit then so be it, although I would think a co project with JKR would be a wise investment for any author on her terms. In any case JKR could write a 50 page pamphlet on Olivanders guide to wand making( or something / anything, and it would sell well enough to make up the difference. I can’t understand why they cant come to terms with each other without this ugliness and that is the true crime. Maybe I am a dreamer and a lhave a little too much faith in people but I can’t change and that is how I feel.
February 28th, 2008 at 11:54 pm
I’m not sure I want to get caught up in this debate again, after having spent so much time on it over at SOG.
But I’m pretty much firmly in the camp of trying to move things toward open source & creative commons stuff. I understand that creators have certain rights to their property, but the definition of what that is, is getting thinner & more indistinct every day. Personally I think the old ways of doing copyright & what not are going the way of the dinosaur. Adapt or get left in the dust seems to be the wave of the future.
February 28th, 2008 at 11:57 pm
I’m in agreement with Travis, too. Encyclopedias are generally never done by the author but by someone else cataloging the data. Let JKR create & let someone else do the slog work of putting it all together in a compendium.
February 29th, 2008 at 7:46 pm
I’m on the fence with this issue. JKR created the whole Potterverse, therefore it does belong to her. On the other hand, SVA has had his Lexicon up before the public for years and even JKR herself has used it. If SVA had intended to publish the Lexicon to raise money for JKR’s charity, taking no profit for himself, she may very well have approved it. I think her point is that he will be in competition with her charity project and she doesn’t want the charity to suffer.
Mugglenet’s ad revenue has, according to one article I read, generated a six-figure annual profit for Emmerson Sparks and she has not shut them down. Her suit seems to be with SVA profiting from something she intended to do for charity.
From the language in her suit, I have to wonder if she will take action against fanfic writers, podcasts, fanfests and other Potter-related activities that are non-profit if she loses.
It’s a sad thing all around. No one will win here.
March 1st, 2008 at 10:27 pm
i just think that if they, JKR and her lawyers, really are going to pursuit a lawsuit against SVA then they are going to have to sue a hell of a lot of other people out there as well i mean he is not the only one who is doing this and i think it is wrong to just isolate one person when there is obviously a lot of other people besides him who are doing it
i am going to have to agree with travis on this one
March 3rd, 2008 at 4:43 pm
I have to say that I am 100% for JKR. All previous books published regarding Harry Potter have offered a significant amount of analysis. SVA published lexicon would truely be a work of plagerism. He has spent so much time organizing all of the material JKR has written about, but I do not think that it should go beyond a free website. JKR makes very valid points, in regards to people being able to afford both guides and also the fact that this lawsuit could start to infringe on the fans who spend so much time using her characters and world in different creative expressions. As the author she should be allowed to say that a published lexicon is going to far, and I for one support her decision to do so.
March 3rd, 2008 at 5:24 pm
I’m absolutely with Valerie on this one. To take her years of effort, catalogue it and sell it for the enormous personal revenues that it will render as a first publication of the kind (as it is the first pure encyclopedia) of SVA and RDR is just blatant plagarism and money grubbing on their part.
JKR has always allowed creative use of her world in order to promote understanding, analysis and otherwise creative ends. She has even allowed a lot of websites to run revenue assuming they will remain non-profit because all HP related websites can make profit if they want to (and I wouldn’t believe the press on Emerson Spatz personal bank account, because Mugglenet and MuggleCast combined actually spend a lot of money on events. They attend and report on every single noteworthy event and conference around the world and do podcasts on location, readers meet-ups, book tours and such.). JKR has never attempted to shut that all down, even though we can assume that not all HP related website owners/hosts are honest when it comes to it. She wants to support the community and keep it healthy and keep it in the public domain and I am thankful for that. And if that means that she will have to sue anyone that tries to blatantly take it out of the public domain, I will support her.
I actually welcome JKR’s encyclopedia. I expect that it will not limit us at all. If it is going to be that what I think it will be, it will give us huge amounts of insight and will in fact only further the HP discussion in ways we cannot imagine right now. Instead of just being authoritative I think it will give us much more conviction in our analyses and will clear-up some of the pitfalls that we struggle with at the moment. Personally I can’t wait to read it cover to cover.
March 4th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
Victoria,
Personally, I think her encylopedia will limit us in our analysis. As Travis has said so many times, why bother to analyze the books when someone can just say, Oh, but Jo says it’s this not that.
I genuinely think it’s the job of the author to write & then let someone else catalogue her writings into an encyclopedia. It seems as if Jo is holding onto her work too tightly to some extents. But, hey, I won’t stop her. I’ll probably buy her book, too. But I probably won’t do too much analyzing of her work anymore. Why bother when she’s going to tell me exactly what she means instead of leaving some things a mystery?
March 4th, 2008 at 3:32 pm
Revgeorge,
thank you for your reply, I can certainly see how a purely factual encyclopedia might put a stop to discussion, especially if it’s going to be very definitive on the information it gives. However as she has said that she cannot wait to put all the back story she has compiled over two decades into the catelogue, I can see that especially when it comes to characters, locations and events the immense source of extra information will not be constricting at all. I think the information will help us interpret some events, actions and choices in much greater detail.
I agree that it’s Rowling’s job to write and our job to giving meaning, depth and interpretation as readers. However, also I support the notion that the extra abundance of information she will put into the encyclopedia (which might very well be equal to the entire series combined) will never be limited by the facts alone. I.M.H.O. there will always be twists to be spun on cannon and with more information there will only be more twists to be made…
March 4th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
Victoria,
All that you say is possibly true. But I’m just a cynic at heart.
March 4th, 2008 at 6:02 pm
Yeah, we’ll not be able say anything more useful until we actually have the encyclopedia in our possession and have read it cover to cover. But by then it will be too late.
And yes, for me it might just be wishful thinking. We’ll see
March 6th, 2008 at 7:22 am
everytime a billionaire pretends to have to organize a benefit or write a book “for charity” it is an insult to every suffering person in the world. A billionaire can never truly care about anyone’s suffering. Having a billion dollars means that you can can give 900 million dollars to help millions of suffering people and still have more money than 99% of the world’s population. It’s just evil greed, money lust.
March 6th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
Reason T,
Though there is always more that people can do, billionaires or not, I think that any bit counts. Therefore its unfair to suggest that anything less then giving away most of your money is insignificant. JKR has always made philanthropy a priority in her life and I think that she sets a good example for all.
March 6th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
And I don’t think she ‘has to’ write a book for charity. She is going to write the encyclopedia no matter what happens. The difference is that she made the conscious decision not to take her profit for her own but to charity. My apologies but IMHO I don’t see how you can see that as greed and money lust.
March 7th, 2008 at 12:50 pm
Well, did she decide not to take the profits from the book out of the goodness of her heart or did she make that decision to give greater weight to lawsuit? Had she announced her intentions of writing a book for charity prior to the announcement of the independent lexicon? If her charitable intentions were announced/dreamed up after the fact it only goes to show the selfish business savvy manipulative nature of the dirty rich.
March 7th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
Reason T,
I don’t understand how JKR could be considered part of the dirty rich. Plus, how is this pejorative language helping out your case?
Simple fact, JKR wrote a series of books that people liked. Said people went out & bought her books by the millions & also paid to see movies based on her books. No one forced them to do this. JKR gets paid for the work she did in creating the series & for being the copyright holder of the material. She pays millions of dollars in taxes to prop up the failing socialistic government of the United Kingdom. And after having this money taken from her, she is still willing to give millions of dollars to charity. She didn’t steal any of this money from anybody; people willingly bought her stuff.
Here’s another simple fact: While I personally disagree with JKR’s suit against RDR & while I think intellectual property & copyrights are going the way of the dinosaur, under current law JKR has a perfect right to pursue action in this matter. The legal system won’t care what she plans to use the money from her encyclopedia for; it will only care whether or not the letter of the law currently written applies in this matter.
March 7th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
JKR announced her intentions of writing an encyclopedia for charity back in May 2007. Her immediate plan to donate the proceeds was not at all surprising since she had previously done so with her two guide books benefiting the charity of Comic Relief, which has nothing to do with helping struggling stand-up comics:). The first mention of a publishing plan for the Lexicon I found was in the fall of that same year. Therefore JKR’s plans to donate the proceeds were not dreamed up after the fact.
I am not naive enough to think that all people donate time and money to different charities because they feel passionately about the suffering of others, more then there own excessive lifestyles. But I do feel that JKR has time and again shown that she is both a hard worker, who does not take her enormous success for granted, and a passionate philanthropist, setting a good example for others to follow. I hope this helps.
March 7th, 2008 at 2:13 pm
Revgeorge,
I completely agree with you mention of “pejorative language”. Though we all may not agree on our opinions, I do apprecaite the level of thoughtfulness and intelligence HP Progs approaches their discussion, and I believe we can do the same in the comments. Thanks!
March 9th, 2008 at 11:50 am
I seem to recall reading that SVA wrote Rowling a letter wanting to work with her on creating an encyclopedia. It appeared that some of the motivation for publishing the lexicon was saving face for having been blown off. It’s JKR’s writing and she can do it however and with whomever she pleases, but why not have hired him to “consult”, to slog through piles of papers, to make a Starbucks run? Maybe I’m just lazy but if I had access to someone who knew my work as well as or better than I did I’d co-opt their brain in a New York minute.
March 12th, 2008 at 10:07 am
This tends to be a somewhat heated subject and I am compelled to way in.
I love all Harry Potter fans and I hope not to offend anyone!
My humble opinion is that JKR is a BRILLIANT author but she does have faults like everyone and is not perfect. I feel that she can be a bit controlling at times. In this case, she probably needs to really appreciate the fans who helped to promote the Harry Potter franchize. I have to say that I do agree with Reason T. that in a nutshell being a billionaire is selfish but it is hard not to be selfish in this world. We all should probably give of ourselves more whether it be money, services, etc. Fortunately, at the same time we all have some wonderful traits about ourselves and we all know JKR definitely does as well! I ‘m hoping that we will get through this minor crisis.
April 16th, 2008 at 10:06 am
I haven’t been following this controversy from the beginning, but I understand that Vander Ark has a website with which JKR has no issue and even has given an award to in the past.
So she is basically now arguing, that what can be said on a website cannot be said in print? Or by extension, if I go to Vander Ark’s webiste and print out every single page and put them all in a big binder, that is okay. If however I buy a book with essentially the same contents that is not okay?
I’m a big fan of JKR’s books but I feel she’s losing the plot in terms of being decent to her fans.
April 16th, 2008 at 8:25 pm
Nah, it’s got nothing to do with the material or the packaging. She is only upset because the guy wants to make a buck off of his work (her work). He wants to publish the Lexicon and sell it.
She praised the guy when she was referencing his site to fact check her own writing. Surely she must have known about the countless hours he was dedicated to the compilation. SHe has no problem with the guy dedicating himself to her legend if it is for free.
She just wants to make sure all of the money comes home to mamma.
Certainly she will win.
The guy’s a librarian, if i’m not mistaken, and she is a billionaire. Surely, there has to be a reasonable amount of compensation that could be offered to the guy for, if nothing else, basically writing her own lexicon for her.
But, while a fool and His money are soon to part. A greedy middle aged nasty fake blond English broad will slit muggle throat to add another couple pounds to her scrooge mcduck money vault.
Now, that was a good cartoon
April 16th, 2008 at 8:31 pm
And for those of you who think that the use of pejorative language is somehow inappropriate, i would ask you how many serious issues would have been solved had the voices involved all maintained their manners.
“Certainly, Mr. Hitler, this is absurd. I find your decisions most rash”
The use of strong language does what the words were intended to do, display a level of emotion. Their usage should mean something to the people reading them beyond their frank literal definition.
She is a rich greedy bitch.