J.K. Rowling and the Lexicon Lawsuit

J. K. Rowling is set to appear in American court in order to guard her copyright on the Harry Potter series. Love the series or hate it, the issue does not concern the seven-volume set specifically. Rather, it concerns a Harry Potter encyclopedia – one intended and the other, reportedly 400 pages, already written. RDR Books, a small publisher located in Michigan, plans to publish an encyclopedia based off of the “Harry Potter Lexicon,” an online reference of the Harry Potter world. However, J.K. claims that she intends to write an encyclopedia. Further, she also intends for the proceeds to benefit charity.

 

And well, here we have the main issue – money.

 

RDR Books and Steven Vander Ark, the creator of the unofficial encyclopedia and the editor of the “Harry Potter Lexicon,” intend to profit from his guide. J.K. is reportedly richer than the Queen and has previously written two smaller books, “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” (2001) and “Quidditch Through the Ages” (2001), for the Comic Relief charity. Her financial situation and her previous actions make a solid backing for her statements about the proceeds benefiting charity. Well, that and the fact that she announced it to the world pretty much guarantees that J.K. will follow through with her statements.

 

What could the outcome of this case be? Consider that J.K.’s encyclopedia is not even written yet, let alone slated for publishing. I have no doubt that she will eventually write the encyclopedia, but the fact is that the Copyright Act, specifically the fair use defense, which is what I’m assuming RDR will use, will look at the Lexicon encyclopedia’s effect on the market value of the copyrighted work. The copyrighted work is J.K.’s encyclopedia. Her unwritten encyclopedia. I suppose J.K’s encyclopedia could have an anticipated market value, but since it does not even exist yet, it does not actually have a market value.

 

I’m not sure who will win this case, but I do know that whatever the result, this lawsuit has the huge potential to change the way authors view and react towards fan activity.

 

www.jkrowling.com

www.hp-lexicon.org

 

He did what? Questions on fictional accounts of real people.

Henry James: prolific American-born writer, bachelor and… main character in Colm Tóibín’s novel The Master? And James is a character in this novel– Tóibín builds James as he would any other character. He is written with a personality, thoughts. James has goals, beliefs and failures. He’s a complete and fleshed out into a three-dimensional character with family, with friends, with a history. But. James was an actual person, he lived, published a lot, probably wrote even more, and died; he had family, friends, and a history. How does this work, if it even does work?

Well, it’s simple. There’s Henry James the real-life author and Henry James the fictional character. In some ways, they are the same – same family, same friends, same birth and death date and place, same time period, authorship, residence. Their similarities are only in the facts. Henry James the real-life author and Henry James the fiction character don’t have the same thoughts and feelings or reasons for choosing to do whatever action they chose to do. Mostly because Tóibín can’t know the personal inner workings of James’ mind – he can only infer conclusions from what James penned and left behind. The fictional is built around the factual.

This isn’t that hard to rearrange in your head though – these two different Henrys. But what if I were to tell you that I have written a novel in which Perez Hilton and Zac Efron finally declare their undying love for each other and elope to Hawaii and that this novel is in the process of being published? Aside from the fact that this is ridiculous and it’s also kind of scary to think of Perez married to anyone, I think it makes you wonder – why is a fictional account of Henry James’ life accepted and not a fictional account of a current celebrity’s life? Actually maybe that example was far too ridiculous for you, let me try again; hitting the shelves tomorrow is a fictionalized account of Stephen King’s life (not really). This novel in question works in the same way that Tóibín’s novel does – it builds a fictional life, however, it is about a living author. Is there a difference in the way you would view this novel as opposed to your view on The Master?

If yes, why the difference? There’s a question of morality and of privacy. When does a story stop acting as a story and cross over into libel? To refer back to The Master, Tóibín writes James as a closeted homosexual; there are some interesting facts about James’ life that suggest this, so Tóibín is not completely out in space with this view. There are other points of contention; in The Master, James’ major mistakes and failures as a friend and an artist are taken out and examined by Tóibín and the reader. I’m sure that James would take offense to this candid look at his life. But he’s dead and has been for quite awhile, so I suppose it doesn’t really matter what is said about him. Or does it? Again, at least for me, it’s not quite the same as a novel about a contemporary person.

This issue is about different specific perceptions on what is acceptable. So, my questions for you, amazing reader, are: why aren’t there novels about current celebrities? Do you think it’s immoral and an invasion of privacy to write a fictional account of any real-life person, alive or dead? Should there be a line that an author cannot cross, and if so, where should it be drawn?

I’m interested in reading your thoughts.