Why am I posting this?NEW YORK (AP) -- Author J.K. Rowling is eager to tell a judge this week that one of her biggest fans is in fantasyland if he believes a "Harry Potter" encyclopedia he plans to publish does not violate her copyrights.
The showdown between Rowling and the fan, Steven Vander Ark, is scheduled to last most of the week in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
Rowling is scheduled to testify Monday in a trial that is sure to generate huge interest among Harry Potter fans and the public. Her lawyer has arranged with the judge to have a private security guard for Rowling in the courtroom and for the author to spend breaks in the seclusion of a jury room - away from any die-hard Potter fans in attendance.
The trial comes eight months after Rowling published her seventh and final book in the widely popular Harry Potter series. The books have been published in 64 languages, sold more than 400 million copies and spawned a film franchise that has pulled in $4.5 billion at the worldwide box office. (read the rest of the story here)
I helped, in my small way, to make this woman a billionaire. We bought the books, paid to see the movies in the theater, bought the merchandise...all of which added to Joanne (J.K.) Rowling's bottom line.
It seems that the billionaire status she enjoys just isn't enough. There is a man who has been compiling Potter facts on a website for years...a site so informative that the author herself confesses to using it for research.
That man, Steven Vander Ark (a HUGE Potter fan) has decided to turn his wealth of information into a book, basically a Harry Potter encyclopedia. And Rowling is angry. Why? She claims copywrite infringement.
My question is this: if she used his website as a research tool, why not let him publish the book and cash in on his years of hard work and diligence?
Hmmmmmm. the "Double Jeopardy" question is: What is greed, Alex?
She should endorse his book as the Official Harry Potter Encyclopedia, pen a forward to it and let the poor guy make a buck. She's come a long way from the cold water walk-up she lived in while wrting her first Potter book. Maybe she should embrace this man's work as an homage to her own and get over herself.
This may very well decide whether or not we see the last two installments of her movies or not...I'll wait for her to come to her senses.
1 comment:
Bill, why are you so surprised? Like many other limousine liberals, J.K. Rowling seems to believe that she is the only one who deserves to be rich. I wonder how much of her money she has returned to the British govenment and/or people for allowing her to write full time while on the "dole"?
Dave
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