Pity Poor J.K. Rowling… “I am deeply troubled by the portrayal of my efforts to protect and preserve the copyrights I have been granted in the Harry Potter books,” she wrote in court papers filed against the publisher, RDR Books. Ark is editor of a website containing a fan-created collection of essays and encyclopaedic material on the Potter universe, including lists of spells and potions found in the books, a catalogue of magical creatures and a who’s who in the wizarding world.
“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. I find it devastating to contemplate the possibility of such a severe alteration of author-fan relations.”
the book of counted sorrows
I remember when Dean Koontz stopped websites from compiling a few lines of poetry from each of Koontz’ books to create The Book of Counted Sorrows (the once nonexistent work). Where was the fair use in that? 5-6 lines from each novel was still considered a violation? The same with using complete spells from Rowling. Yes, she has more money than 20 Oprahs (Forbes should publish a rich people list, but based on the Oprah scale, “Bill Gates is worth 32 Oprahs”), but that doesn’t mean her rights are up for grabs. I don’t know the whole story, but I’d hate to think all writers will lose something based on this event.