The JKR/RDR/SVA case

[pegkerr]

If you said, "Huh?" after reading the title of this post, you are clearly not in the Harry Potter fandom and have no idea of the DRAMA going on in a New York courtroom this week, so feel free to skip.

I wrote about this case before. There are excellent commentaries over at praetorianguard's journal and chaeche's posts at fandom_lawyers.

I still can't believe that Steve did it. I considered myself friends with him back when we worked together on the HPEF Board of Directors. I just can't imagine what he was thinking. It's extremely painful to watch him destroy his relationship with someone he absolutely idolized because he was either a) inexplicably greedy and/or b) inexplicably stupid. I don't know which it is, but watching from afar, either alternative feels awful.

I hope and expect JKR to win this case. I don't know if and how Steve can pick up the pieces of his life again when it's over. (And that's not even the considering the possibility that praetorianguard raised that his erstwhile publisher RDR might turn around and sue him because of the irregularities in the indemnity clause in the contract.) He'd quit his job, and cut himself off by his own actions from the HP community he loved and reveled in.

Hubris indeed.

Comments

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Because I included a link to my prior post that did.

Short story: a guy I know and have worked with in the past--and liked--Steve Vander Ark, was a huge Harry Potter fan who created an on line compilation of information on the Harry Potter books, the Harry Potter Lexicon. Steve is (was) a librarian, so the info was nicely organized and the Lexicon was very popular. J.K. Rowling gave it a fan award and said that she used it herself when she wanted to quickly consult some tidbit of information about her back story when she was writing.

But then Steve decided to compile the Lexicon and sell it in book form. JKR objected to this because 1) she intends to write and sell an encyclopedia herself to raise money for charitable causes, and the design of the Lexicon book was designed in such a way that it would create confusion for the buyer, making them think it was authorized by Rowling and 2) the Lexicon is essentially merely a re-packaging of Rowling's work (the plaintiff put up a pie chart, attributing 91% of the Lexicon's content to Rowling's own words.)

They're battling it out in New York court this week. My take (esp. after reading praetorianguard's posts) is that Steve is so far in the wrong here that it's hard to believe. And I am having trouble reconciling the Steve that I knew, who absolutely idolized J.K. Rowling, with someone who could do something so counter to her interests and who could be so stupid.

[kijjohnson.livejournal.com]

...and so contrary to her charitable goal.