The HP Saga Continues

Sued by Harry Potter’s Creator, Lexicographer Breaks Down on the Stand

By ANEMONA HARTOCOLLIS
Published: April 16, 2008

Shhh! The librarian at the heart of the Harry Potter copyright-infringement lawsuit stood up to J. K. Rowling on Tuesday in a Manhattan courtroom, and then broke down sobbing.

The librarian, Steven Jan Vander Ark, had the mild-mannered demeanor of Ron Weasley, and the intelligence, charm — and haircut — of Harry Potter. Even his name sounds like that of a character in one of the books, if preceded by “Lord” or “Master.” Although, at 50, he is older than Ms. Rowling, 42, he looked like a schoolboy, with an unlined face and caramel-colored hair parted down the middle.

On the witness stand in Federal District Court, he portrayed the famous writer as his idol, his true literary love, who had been unaccountably bewitched by the evil money-grubbing forces of publishing, like one of Voldemort’s vassals. One day, he testified, Ms. Rowling was singling out his Harry Potter Lexicon Web site, out of “hundreds of thousands” of Potter fan sites on the Web, for praise; the next, she was accusing him of plagiarism for wanting to turn it into a book.

A rather dramatically titled article but interesting none the less...

One could imagine all sorts of things happening with this. I would also ask where all the research that went into the lexicon will go, would JK Rowling list all of the conflicting information that exists in her books? What about the essays and other articles written about her books that may be published...

While Ms. Rowling argued on Monday that people who bought the “Harry Potter Lexicon” would have little incentive to buy her books, Mr. Vander Ark argued that, on the contrary, only people who read her books would be interested in his encyclopedia.

This is a valid I think, I dont know of anyone that would buy an encyclopedia on a item of fiction that wasn't a researcher or a major fan. And lets face it, what with the content being on the web already for free, they would have to be a major fan!!!

The full article here ---> NY Times