Rowling says fan-created Potter book would be 'devastating' to fan sites
Last Updated: Friday, February 29, 2008 | 12:01 PM ET
CBC News
J.K. Rowling contends a Harry Potter lexicon to be published by a fan will have a "devastating" effect on Potter enthusiast websites everywhere, according to a court document the author filed for a lawsuit against the fan.
The creator of the popular teen wizard book series filed papers in a Manhattan court this week to go with the lawsuit she launched in late October 2007 against Steven Vander Ark and his publishers, RDR Books.
Author J.K. Rowling, pictured here signing books for fans while in Toronto on Oct. 23, 2007, says she feels betrayed by fan site creator Steven Vander Ark, who wants to publish a Harry Potter lexicon.
(Charla Jones/Canadian Press)
Rowling said she had planned to publish her own 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 wrote.
"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."
Vander Ark has run a fan-created Potter glossary website, which includes a handbook to the game of Quidditch, a visitor's guide to Hogwarts, a catalogue of magical creatures and lists of spells and potions.
Both he and the Michigan-based publisher had to halt plans to publish the Potter encyclopedia in November 2007 when Rowling filed the lawsuit.
Rowling had once enjoyed a convivial relationship with Vander Ark and the website and she says she now feels betrayed by Vander Ark's insistence that he should be allowed to publish the material. She says she will not continue such warm relations with her fan sites if the matter goes to court.
"I find it devastating to contemplate the possibility of such a severe alteration of author-fan relations."
Meanwhile, RDR Books says Rowling is seeking a monopoly over the work, which is not part of copyright law.
"It's a very legitimate literary activity. Like a reference book or guide to literature," argues RDR Books attorney Lizbeth Hasse.
On its website, the publisher says it wanted to publish the lexicon for "the benefit of Harry Potter fans everywhere."
Rowling's seven Potter books have sold nearly 400 million copies worldwide and have been translated into 64 languages.
With files from the Associated PressShare Tools
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