J.K Rowling Does it Again

deadsuperhero · Mon 28/04/2008 23:38:43

It seems that nowadays, she just keeps getting greedier and greedier.

NewsWeek article

Here's an insightful (well, more funny than insightful, but it was in the comments) blog entry I ran across on the subject.

What's your opinion on this?

Shane 'ProgZmax' Stevens · Mon 28/04/2008 23:48:15

She's fully entitled to do whatever she wishes with her copyrighted and highly derivative Harry Potter series. If that means alienating fans and randomly changing characters into homosexual stereotypes, all the better!

Emerald · Mon 28/04/2008 23:50:02

I can't wait to be her.

deadsuperhero · Mon 28/04/2008 23:54:06

I guess, but is it really a good form to crap all over a community that obviously loves her work, and creates fantastical little fan stories?

It's almost like when Vivendi tried to shut down SQ7, KQ9, and such.

TwinMoon · Tue 29/04/2008 00:15:58

Obviously I don't know all the details here, but you can't just publish a book about somebody else's characters and expect to get away with it. He could get rich publishing that book for all you know.

I don't know what kind of person she is, but taking it out of the biased context of the Newsweek article it seems like a normal thing to do.

Emerald · Tue 29/04/2008 00:24:48

Maybe she's an idealist. Doesn't want to see her characters mistreated.

She obviously has a lot of love for Harry Potter if she was so determined to get him published that she went through all that rejection.

Nikolas · Tue 29/04/2008 01:14:13

You know, it's inevitable in the end.

I'm not sure I'd like to have something so dear treated any way really, even the most lovingly and fan based way (as the dictionary seemed to be in all honesty). I mean, as a creator, I can udnerstand what it feels to be parodied, or used, etc and it can be... not nice anyway.

On the other hand it is inevitable, if you are loved, to get fan art, or other means. There's no way for Lucas to control what happens to star wars, it's everywhere! Even if it's copyrighted, it is virtually impossible to avoid certain things. The same thing is happening to Harry Potter. It's SO hugely popular, that it is starting to be part of the culture, or the civilisation, etc (far fetched, ok, but you get what I mean).

I can't see her really as bitch. Disillusional maybe, but not a bitch! She has every right to protect her creations, her copyright, etc...

Eigen · Tue 29/04/2008 07:01:34

I haven't read a single Harry Potter book and I think I'm not missing out on anything. But as for the article .. does it matter what she does or how she does it .. everybody will still buy the books the first second they get anyway. It's hard to say why fan-fiction of something really popular is considered a bad thing by the authors. As long as no profit is made off of it I'd say it's great. Maybe it's just putting out a fire in early stages and fear of it getting bigger and having to deal with it then.

Oh .. and money has done worse to people.

space boy · Tue 29/04/2008 08:29:30

Even greedy selfish revisionist sell-out George Lucas allows fans to create stories in his universe(as long as they are non-profit). Making it legal and supporting the fans is the only way to go if you want to have some degree of control over it and not alienate your fans. The author can always declare what is cannon and non-cannon and the fans should respect the authors rights and not make money with their fanwork. The only case in which it would be ok for Rowling to sue the guy is if he sold the stuff without her permission. If it is a free downloadable lexicon I don't see anything wrong with it.

Makeout Patrol · Tue 29/04/2008 08:32:02

I don't get how she's in the wrong here. The guy was seeking to profit off of her copyrighted material without seeking her permission or offering her a cut. This is exactly why copyright legislation exists.

Nikolas · Tue 29/04/2008 08:52:20

It's got google ads, so there is the element of profit there, indeed...

I didn't notice it before, because I didn't go to the lexicon site.

This brings a bit of new light to the whole situation. The guy decided to take advantage of the Harry Potter popularity and created the lexicon. Pure and simple, copyright infrigment, indeed.

Fee · Tue 29/04/2008 09:30:25

Basically, all the book is, is a print version of his website.
A website Rowling herself has refered to in interviews with high reguard, even telling people to go there for more information.

In Rollings view, the web is basically "anything goes" so she has never persued people for their fan sites, dispite them (and every fan site for that matter) being full of copyrighted material.

The problems started when Vander Ark decided to print this website in a book format, kind of an encyclopedia of Harry potter, and directly make a profit from it.
The fact his page contains all this stuff, means it should have been taken down long ago, but Rowlongs allowed it to stay, as most people allow fan work to be created for no profit.

Now on the internet he can make a profit, but not by selling the content, but by the advertising on the site.
When he publishes a book, he is directly selling her material, and that is a No No. I would be pissed off too.

Not only that, but Rowling also has an Official Encyclopedia of Harry Potter in production, so Vander Arks book would be competing directly with hers. Wich is another No No!

Then theres always the chance his will sell better. How embarrising for Rowling. Personally i wouldnt take the chance!

Id sue his ass too.

Radiant · Tue 29/04/2008 09:31:51

Quote from: Allianceâ,,¢ on Mon 28/04/2008 23:54:06
I guess, but is it really a good form to crap all over a community that obviously loves her work, and creates fantastical little fan stories?

To be fair, if you look over the fanfiction.org site, not all those little fan stories qualify as "fantastical".

In particular, there has been a lot of speculation on the internet over who should become Harry's girlfriend (Hermione, Ginny, Luna, or even Draco) including hundreds of "shipping" stories that pair him off with one of the above, and vicious flame wars between the believers in different match-ups. When the matter became resolved in one of the later books, some fans were angry, or in denial about it, and rumor has it that one of them threatened JK to change her book. At any rate, JK has become aware of this fan behavior and found it startling. This, incidentally, is why book seven has an epilogue that seriously puts these matters to a rest with little room for speculation.

Not that she's about to stop those little fan stories, or that she could if she wanted to (I think the last group to try that was TSR, and we all know how that turned out) but she's had a few bad experiences and I can imagine she doesn't want people selling those stories. This is hardly the first lawsuit, even; there's been one against the Tanja Grotter novels, and one from some earlier author who alleges JK ripped her off. Ah, there's no business like show business.

Tuomas · Tue 29/04/2008 09:53:37

A pure fact is that money has corrupted everyone, the original author and the ones trying to benefit from his work. It seems like everything everyone is doing nowadays is for money, and why shouldn't it. Without money you are nothing and never will be, and so if it has a tendensy of breeding once you've got it, it also seems to disappear more and more once you loose some. It's a shitty business, and an unfair fight to survival, apparently those born more fortunate are the ones to stay that way.

As for Rowling, I never read any of her books, saw some movies because they were on telly when I had a beer in my hand. I've seen better. But I agree, at this point, in my opinion she has every right to protect what is hers. I really hate to say this, but even because she might be rich doesn't mean she shoulnd't stand up like she would have before her fortune. Of course I do expect something from the most fortunate of the world, but as an exception, the way people are trying to benefit of her seems like using someone rather than demanding it for justice. Makes them no better than her.

Emerald · Tue 29/04/2008 14:33:22

Lads, lads, this isn't about fanfiction. There's tonnes of HP fanfiction on the internet - TONNES - and she's never cared. In fact, she has fanfiction awards on her site.

This is about a guy writing a book about Rowling's world, which Rowling wants to write. And she doesn't want to have to compete with one of her fans.

Questionable · Tue 29/04/2008 14:45:19

Agreed,
imagnie you get rich and famous off of your videogames you created with AGS. Your website generates enough money for you to open up a prodicution studio and you make commercial quality games for the mass market. You drop by AGS and some guy has made a sequel to the first game you produced with your studio, and he' charging for it.

People might accept this as canon, people might find out this game sucks and not want to play yours, this guy is using material YOUR company created for personal gain and possibly disrupting the creation of a sequel from your studio house. You damn well BETTER sue him.

Now, if it's some free little project that he spent 3 years to pump out. You know how that goes, he can make as much money off his website and if the ame happens to be a major draw? So what, it's a fanpiece.

There are cetain distinctions that warrant certain behavior, I think that she is well within reasonable to begin formal legal action, in fact if I was THAT guy, I would have just dropped it! Maybe seen if I could work with her to produce an OFFICIAL version, perhaps... instead of going all copyright maverick.

Darth Mandarb · Tue 29/04/2008 17:52:15

This goes back to what I [sadly] keep having to say with situations like this.

This topic is now "internet famous".

All she/they have accomplished by attacking this guy is giving it more publicity and attention. This book will now be made into an eBook and downloaded around the internet for free to anybody that wants it and there's absolutely nothing she/they can do to stop it. In worrying that it would compete with their profits they've essentially guaranteed it's success. The only truly tragic thing here is that the guy that made the eBook won't get a dime for his hard work. I hope he keeps his website up with the google ads and makes some coin that way. In fact ... I'm going to go visit his site and click a few google ads for him.

Time and again these dumb-ass back-wards thinking corporations just never learn.

Personally I hope they release her "encyclodpedia" and it flops 'cause everybody downloads this guy's eBook for free.

LimpingFish · Tue 29/04/2008 18:35:25

If she wins, she won't win because she's right. She'll win because she has more money behind her.

Her arguments, detailing why this book is "wrong", are laughable, as the true reason why she/Bloomsbury are fighting it's publication couldn't be more obvious.

EDIT: Though she is free to do what she wishes.

Paper Carnival · Tue 29/04/2008 21:29:27

If anyone made an encyclopedia about a book I wrote, I'd die happy. Really, JK Rowling has enough money to live the rest of her life like a queen.

Quote from: Darth Mandarb on Tue 29/04/2008 17:52:15Personally I hope they release her "encyclodpedia" and it flops 'cause everybody downloads this guy's eBook for free.

Yes, but I doubt it. She has too many stupid fanboys supporting her.

I personally read the Harry Potter books and liked them a lot. Of course, they're not even half. as awesome as the three trilogies by Robbin Hobb set in the Realm of the Elderlings. It's a shame how Harry Potter gets all the fame when Fitz gets nothing.

deadsuperhero · Tue 29/04/2008 22:29:28

Quote from: Emerald on Tue 29/04/2008 14:33:22
Lads, lads, this isn't about fanfiction. There's tonnes of HP fanfiction on the internet - TONNES - and she's never cared. In fact, she has fanfiction awards on her site.

This is about a guy writing a book about Rowling's world, which Rowling wants to write. And she doesn't want to have to compete with one of her fans.

Tell that to the several communties her and Warner Bros. has shut down.

It's not unlike Sierra/Vivendi shutting down the AGS community because we make fangames, and games that look strikingly similar. I mean, how many times have you seen a CL entry with "Oh, I want to make it look more like DOTT", or a GIP or CG entry that says "Based on Space Quest/King's Quest/other game here."
It just upsets me.