Andre Yoskowitz
11 Sep 2008 14:23
The US District Court has ruled in favor of Harry Potter author JK Rowling which was suing author Steven Vander Ark over his publication of the encyclopedia "Harry Potter Lexicon." Rowling had called the publication "wholesale theft of her work" and it appears a judge agreed.
Judge Robert Patterson says the encyclopedia would cause "irreparable harm" to Ms. Rowling as a writer and with his decision the book is now blocked from publication, permanently.
Additionally, Ms. Rowling and the publisher Warner Bros Entertainment received £3,850 in damages.
"I went to court to uphold the right of authors everywhere to protect their own original work," Rowling added.
"The court has upheld that right."
RDR Books, who was publishing the Lexicon admitted it was disappointed with the decision but is considering "all of its options."
The publisher did add however that "we are encouraged by the fact the court recognized that as a general matter authors do not have the right to stop the publication of reference guides and companion books about literary works."
Judge Patterson agreed that reference materials are generally useful but that Vander Ark took too much of Rowling's work.
"While the Lexicon, in its current state, is not a fair use of the Harry Potter works, reference works that share the Lexicon's purpose of aiding readers of literature generally should be encouraged rather than stifled," he said. "Lexicon appropriates too much of Rowling's creative work for its purposes as a reference guide".