Steven Vander Ark breaks down in Harry Potter lexicon trial
Image details: J.K. Rowling Testifies On Harry Potter Lexicon Battle served by picapp.com
This trial is going from bad to worse. Today, Steven Vander Ark, the author of the Harry Potter Lexicon that JK Rowling is suing to have squelched, actually broke down in court, crying as he recounted how utterly stressed out he is by this whole thing:
“It’s been difficult because there has been a lot of criticism, obviously, and that was never the intention,” Ark said in court. “This has been an important part of my life for the last nine years or so.”
I feel bad for him; I do NOT think that this lexicon poses any threat whatsoever to JK Rowling’s work. Come on, look at Lord of the Rings, or Star Wars, or Chronicles of Narnia: how many fan-created books, encyclopedias, etc. are there about these works? And with very few exceptions, all of these added value to an already rich literary tradition. I think this whole suit is ridiculous and makes JK Rowling look bad. What do you think?
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POSTED IN: JK Rowling, Legal
3 opinions for Steven Vander Ark breaks down in Harry Potter lexicon trial
Anonymous
Apr 16, 2008 at 12:05
I think that he should have asked Rowling’s permission first before going to the publisher with it. It’s just common courtesy. If it was really just a hobby for him then he wouldn’t care about the money. So obviously Rowling’s not the only money hungry one here.
Stephi
Apr 16, 2008 at 12:52
In my opinion, neither JKR nor Steven Vander Ark are wrong here. (Please note, I have very little knowledge of this case beyond what has been posted here, so don’t take ANYTHING I say as fact.)
As far as I can tell, SVA didn’t intend to do anything wrong - he was just being a fan, and trying to publish a lexicon as many other fandoms have had. And, if I’m not mistaken, he’s allowed to publish books such as this, and /possibly/ even fanfiction (don’t hold me to that), as long as he doesn’t make ANY money on it - the books have to be sold for exactly what he paid to get them published.
That being said, JKR is in NO WAY being wrong about following through with this. Not only does she have a valid argument, but if she doesn’t stop this book, who’s to say that the next one won’t violate her property rights even more? She’s been extremely good with allowing fan books before now, such as Mugglenet’s “What Will Happen in Book 7″, etc.
Personally, I think the publishers of SVA’s book are the ones most at fault. They should have seen that this infringed too much on JKR’s rights, and refused to publish it.
Hopefully this can come to a mutual agreement without too much bloodshed, you know?
Nigel (Cheshire UK)
Apr 17, 2008 at 02:24
Rowling shows herself up - she lacks class. I think she’s lived in Scotland for too long and has acquired their money-grabbing trait. She should move back to England as soon as possible.
If she was REALLY ‘Being British’ she would have let it go, stopped being so greedy, and acknowledge that there are genuine fans like this American lad who, as with Tolkien, are entitled to cash in on their own labour (and she should be flattered.) Not only that but he didn’t write merely to cash in but the book is just the ‘print out’ of a Website he ran for free collating all the character info etc into a handy reference.
Pure greed by Rowling and she loses face badly.
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