JK Rowling Wins Court Case Against Steve Vander Ark
After almost six months of deliberation, the verdict is finally in.
NEW YORK (AP) — A judge ruled Monday in favor of “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling in her copyright infringement lawsuit against a fan and Web site operator who was set to publish a Potter encyclopedia.
U.S. District Judge Robert P. Patterson said Rowling had proven that Steven Vander Ark’s “Harry Potter Lexicon” would cause her irreparable harm as a writer. He permanently blocked publication of the reference guide and awarded Rowling and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. $6,750 in statutory damages.
There is not a lot of information about the verdict yet, but we will keep you posted as it comes in.
Now that we have the verdict and it has come back in Jo’s favor, this beckons us to ask- will Jo now have the heart to finish writing her Encyclopedia? Do the Potter fans now have a new book to look forward to?
UPDATE: while reading the opinion, I came across this tidbit:
To date, Warner Bros. has release five Harry Potter films, with the sixth scheduled for a worldwide release in November 2008.
I don’t know about you; I consider this to be a court order that Movie 6 must come out in November! Either that, or this was written a while ago.
Tags: Court Case, Harry Potter Lexicon, JK Rowling, Judge Robert Patterson, RDR Publishers, Steve Vander Ark, Warner Brothers
September 8th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
It has taken them an extremely long time to reach this verdict… I wonder if it’s a record or something.
September 8th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
YES! I am so glad the verdict came down in JKR’s favor!
September 8th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
It has take them forever, it seemed pretty simple to me from what i had heard. Granted i wasnt their during the court dates or anything. But I am glad Jo when in the end. No offense to SVA, but you can’t write a book thats 90% plagerism and 10% original thought and expect everything to be okay. I look forward to Jo’s “official” version!!!
September 8th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
It’s too bad… That site was realy great!!!!!!! And it doesn’t work now
((((((
September 8th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
We’ll see what repercussions this has in the future. Can only wait & see.
In this case it was pretty clear cut that RDR & SVA were coming dangerously close to plagiarism. So, the verdict is as it should be.
That being said, I don’t think JKR & WB are as pure as the driven snow either. For one, I don’t know how much ‘irreparable’ harm could be done to someone who’s worth hundreds of millions of pounds or to a company with billions of dollars in assets. Certainly theft is wrong in & of itself no matter how much money is involved & that’s the focus that should’ve been taken, not “oh look how much money we millionaires are losing over this.”
And I think Jo took the high road for the most part, focusing on how it was theft of her work. Although her attempt at being Stephanie Meyer was a little annoying. “I’m so upset about this I don’t think I can work on anything ever again.” Other than that one instance I think she took a pretty high road & kept it focused on property rights.
WB, though, is a little more suspect, in my opinion. Again, we’ll have to wait & see what the repercussions are. Give the WB lawyers an inch & they’ll try to take a mile, in my view of how things have worked lately. Not anything against lawyers per se; it’s just their job. But theoretically it’s up to juries & judges & legislators to restrain them.
Hopefully this whole sorry mess will inspire SVA to go out & actually create an original work of art. I think even the Lexicon in print idea would’ve worked out if he had worked harder on adding more critical commentary. It shouldn’t be too hard to do something original. The cast of Mugglenet did it in their book, Melissa Anelli’s done it, John Granger’s done it numerous times, Travis Prinzi’s done it, & even the humble progenitors of HP Progs have done it in their podcasts through their critical analysis of the HP series.
And maybe RDR will have learned to be a bit more cooperative with a company that can sue you from here to eternity.
Of course, this may not be over yet. Any word on whether RDR/SVA will appeal?
September 8th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
I am not surprised by the verdict or the time it took. The courts take time and this case could have wide repercussions. I will SV all the best I would like to believe that he got caught up in something with agreements that were already made.
September 8th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
Where can you view the official opinion?
September 8th, 2008 at 6:16 pm
Yes, It seems they are at least considering an appeal. A statement has been released found here at this link.
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/djf500/200809081712DOWJONESDJONLINE000616_FORTUNE5.htm
September 8th, 2008 at 6:36 pm
We posted it in the newest post, Ryan.
September 8th, 2008 at 8:44 pm
I defintely think there will be an appeal.
September 8th, 2008 at 11:53 pm
I’ve read a few published companion books that seem just as derivative as the Lexicon–they’re mainly lists of characters, places, and spells, or summarizations of the chapters–so I’m still puzzled as to why the Lexicon was challenged and the others weren’t. Maybe bad timing, since JKR is now planning to write her own encyclopedia?
I prefer to err on the side of fair use, but I can respect the judge’s decision. But what really bothers me about this case is how it divided the fandom and brought out vicious personal attacks on Steve and the people who support him. Some pro-JKR fans had been posting nasty allegations about his personal life, which had absolutely nothing to do with the legal case, and fans who supported Steve were accused of being “not true fans” and told they should get out of the fandom. And to be fair, some of the pro-Steve fans responded with just as much vitriol and immaturity. It really made me sad that some of my fellow fans could not respectfully agree to disagree.
I do hope now that the decision has been made, we can put the nastiness behind us…although I guess it may not be over if RDR appeals.
September 13th, 2008 at 11:50 pm
Geri-chan: I agree. I was amazed at the amount of irrationality by fans (on both sides). It is and always was a legal matter. Sometimes it takes judges and lawyers to settle these things.