Unauthorized “Harry Potter Lexicon” Disturbs JK Rowling

February 29, 2008

(Long Island, N.Y.) JK Rowling who authored the Best-Selling fictional 7-series book Harry Potter filed a lawsuit against Steven Vander Ark for his attempts at publishing without Rowling’s consent a book called “Harry Potter Lexicon” which contains collections of essays from Harry Potter fans worldwide and an encyclopedia of Potter’s world.

The would-be publishing company, RDR Books, noted that Rowling’s acceptance of their fan-based website means confirmation of her consent to the company for the release of the book, a line of thinking that made the world renowned author irate which caused her to file the lawsuit. Rowling plans to release her own encyclopedic edition of Harry Potter’s magical world.

RDR Books publisher Roger Rapoport said that the “Harry Potter Lexicon is critical reference work and would not compete with any official encyclopedia written by Rowling”. He also added that RDR is “Determined to publish this book for the benefit of Harry Potter fans everywhere. We believe Ms. Rowling, who has championed the `Lexicon’ for years, will love reading the book just as much as she does the Web site on which it is based.”

“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 Wednesday. She also added, “If RDR’s position is accepted, it will undoubtedly have a significant, negative impact on the freedoms enjoyed by genuine fans on the Internet,” she said. “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 first installment of the highly successful series called Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone first released under Bloomsbury publication which is small publishing house in London. Rowling was given £1500 as an advance pay by Editor Barry Cunningham and was advised to get a real job as she would not make real money in writing. The following year, Scholastic Inc. won an auction for the US release of the first book with a $105,000 bid. Succeeding release of Harry Potter books broke all literary records worldwide. The last installment called Harry Potter and the deathly hallows was released on July 21, 2007 and set the record in selling 11 Million copies worldwide in the first day of distribution.

Posted by News LI Editor · Edited by Brianna - Filed Under Entertainment