World-renowned author of the Harry Potter series, JK Rowling, sues a publishing company for its plans of publishing a “Harry Potter Lexicon”. Rowling and Warner Bros., which owns the copyright for the seven books, say that it is common knowledge already that she plans to come up by herself of a Harry Potter encyclopedia the proceeds of which will go to charity. The defendant RDR Books claims that the contents of the book will actually just come from the website of the same name, and by the same people. If Rowling herself sanctions, and even praise the website, why would she file suit over a book of exactly the same contents?
Because these people, who do not have copyright over Harry, will profit from the (future) book, unlike the existing website, which is free for everyone, Rowling says. But how can she be sure that the makers of the website do not earn from the said site? What if they let companies pay for advertisement on their site, or they sell the partial contents to others, for whatever other reason, probably also for publishing purposes? There are at least 46 other books about Harry Potter (or his world) created by other publishers who do not have copyright over the franchise; why aren't these publishers sued?
I think Rowling was too selective of who to sue and why. I have never read any of those spin-off books, but at least I saw them at bookstores, and browsed over them. There seems to be little difference between these books and this planned Lexicon: all are about Harry Potter or about his world (historical wizards, for example, or Quidditch), and all are not created by the Rowling. Why this one? Just because it transfers the contents from something that is supposedly free – the internet – to something that would profit a person who is not Rowling? Anyway, this is one case I will really be watching out for.
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1573306/20071101/id_0.jhtml
http://www.hp-lexicon.org/
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