that's so sad!

if he considers himself a fan, maybe he should let Jo handle the encyclopedia instead of trying to make a quick buck printing off his site and calling it a book! >O

I agree with PicklePodListener... It seems like Steve just got in too deep and couldn't get out. I feel terrible for both him and Jo.

aww.. I feel really bad for Jo, now I feel bad for this guy too:(

I get the feeling that Steve wouldof bailed out when Jo told him she didn't agree with a book like that, but that Steve's publisher is pushing him... hhmmm..

I don't know Steve, so I won't try to break his character, BUT ... I think he made a pact with the devil (RDR BOOKS) and now there's no going back. His is in over his head. It's very sad, but it doesn't justify it. His action may affect all of us.

Once the publisher has bought the book, I really don't think that the author has that much control over it.

it's too bad...the lexicon is such a good site. I'm with Jo, but i agree with ALe_Av, i feel sorry for both of them.

i feel bad for this guy :( but they're jo's books, its that simple

but don't you think he had to have some sort of idea that this would happen? i mean, you can't just take everything from a book (characters, plots, ect.) and publish it without some sort of consequence. obviously he's of above average intelligence and i'm pretty sure this would have occurred to him.

He did know this would happen; that's why he put a clause in his contract saying RDR would cover expenses if he got sued. This is the fault of the publisher who pushed him into his decision. Steve is still the lexicon master we know and love. Also, 'fag' is not a synonym for 'jerk'.

Hes not a jerk. Point?

Although I do not agree with what Steve is doing, I don't think it's our place to insult him in any way. Yes we can say that we don't agree with his actions, but I don't think we should call him anything or accuse him in any way. I'm showing Jo my support by leaving her a message in the news item below, I don't think it is anyone's place to insult Steve in any way and I'm sure that Jo would prefer us not to say anything like this. Jen xx

I completely agree with katie_ella_30. If SVDA was such a fan, he'd simply bow out gracefully andcontinue with the website--and leave the encyclopedia to JKR. Even if he did win this case (which I hope he does not), what is he going to publish that we, Potter Fans who HAVE visited his site, haven't all ready seen--for free!?

I do feel bad for him, but he should have known (and obviously from the extra clause he had added to his contract with RDR Books he did know this would happen). From the testimony yesterday the publisher guy sounds like a jerk and I feel bad that Steven got himself involved with these people. Good luck Jo!!! :)

I'm sorry. Play the victim, blah blah blah. YOUR BOOK.

The fact is (though my past two comments were deleted. xD), only JKR can talk about HER WORLD. She's the only one that knows everything about HER WORLD. How would this... this... *refrains from using the f word*... BOY think he can make a better encyclopedia than the writer of the book herself? If he publishes it, it will fail. If he was that upset about it, he would not try so hard to get it published. The tears are a stunt to get a sympathy vote. Sorry-- I'm not buying. He get 0 sympathy from me. Jo better win!

I am sorry for him but I am not sorry for how he is going against J.K.R this is her book and he took over it. But I do believe that he got into deep and he couldn't get out.

The way I understand it, Steve only agreed to the contract with RDR books in the first place as long as they included a clause that would insure that RDR took on all the legal responsibility for any copyright issues that arose from publication of the Lexicon. To me, that says it all. Steve knew that the Lexicon would have copyright issues and he went ahead and made the deal and made it in a way that would cover his own ass. He knew JKR was writing her own encyclopedia, he knew she rebuffed his offer to 'help' and he knew his publication of the lexicon would be against her wishes and he went ahead and did it anyway. I understand 'this has been a massive part of his life for nine years' but that doesn't mean it's his; Harry is Jo's creation. Lots of us have a lot of time and passion wrapped up in Potter, but we don't own it either. To me, Steve's behavior seems to be obsessive in a certifiable way. He's allowed his interest to develop into fanaticism and his attempt to get a job through Christopher Little, his moving to London and making effort after effort to contact Jo personally to 'work this out' is approaching stalker status. Perhaps his breaking down on the stand is indicative of a final realization that he's been behaving like a first class j@ck@$$ and perhaps it's a genuine feeling of entitlement to something related to Potter. Then again, maybe he's just suffering from a middle-age crisis. In any event, he's not behaving rationally and although I feel bad about the situation, I have no real sympathy for him simply because of what he has done.

not our place to insult him? if he chooses to feed people bull, they can insult him.

If he loves Harry Potter so much then why is he doing all this!! He is a discrase to the fandom.

any fan that would make Jo want to cry or give up writing, is not a true fan. i hope he loses. and may God help him if he decides to show up at any symposiums! haha he'll get mauled by hundreds of angry fans.

this is a very heated discussion! i hope mugglecast has some discussion on it next week...

jo made herself cry because she likes attention.

i agree with powerfulmagic 3 .. if he didnt think he was doing anything wrong he wouldnt have made sure there was the clause about him not having to be responsible if there was a copyright dispute in court. come on. he knew he was in the wrong. I have no sympathy for him what so ever. not only is he hurting the author of a series he claims to love, he is also hurting the fans of the series.. including fans that enjoyed his FREE website.

wow. Very heated indeed, Katie! I hope they talk about it on MuggleTalk!

;D

I feel bad for the guy but thats what happens when you try to use someone else's idea. **Out of the Wall Street Article: "But today, when Rowling

He put that clause in for a reason,and he told fans time and time again not to do the exact thing he is now doing. Did he suddenly forget all his reasons for telling them that? If so it sounds like major memory lose to me. He should go to the hospital.

*Posted on WSJ.com a couple of minutes ago by me*: The e-mail Rowling

i wouldnt think any amount of money made from some book could compensate for having most of the harry potter fandom AND Jo not like you anymore. we've got like 28348407 people who we can be automatic friends with just by saying 'i love harry potter' and this guy basically just lost that b/c of his book. this must suck for him so much.

Wow, what a loser!! He even plagiarizes her words in court! "Oh, this book has been a part of my life for many years... blah blah" and he proceeds to cry over it (most likely in a wimpy way, as opposed to Jo's tears of strength). 9 yrs vs. 17 yrs, and HE didn't have to raise a child on welfare. They are about the same age, and look at how much Jo has accomplished and overcome in her life. He garners no sympathy from me, and honestly, his testimony in court just exposes the weaknesses in the defense. If you read closely, he doesn't (or maybe never did) support 100% the idea of publishing the Lexicon in the first place. If he even had an inkling of doubt, then he shouldn't have agreed to RDR publishing the book, and he definitely shouldn't have let the case go this far. He needed to do what was RIGHT (nip the case in the bud and cancel the publishing), and not just resort to following RDR's every step in this issue (aka, what is EASY). Guess he didn't learn much from HP after all, and he calls himself a fan... *shakes head*.

He gets my sympathy. Writing an encyclopedia that the author won't write/hasn't written yet isn't a crime. George Lucas hasn't written a single Star Wars work outside 4 of his 6 movies(Empire and Jedi were written by others), but I don't see him taking anyone to court. JKR allows some people to make up stuff about her Harry Potter world, but not others? Steve Kloves has altered the world in several ways for the movies. Peeves doesn't exist to him, for example. But JKR hasn't taken them to court. And let's not get started on fan fiction. I was very interested in this encyclopedia, since I enjoy the HP-Lexicon. A mere compilation of existing facts wouldn't be too bad. I'd still buy JKR's official encyclopedia for all the additional info. Real HP fans would still buy her encyclopedia. No offense to JKR, I love her and her works, I just wanted this encyclopedia to have a chance for those who don't have the internet to read HP-Lexicon and don't want to wait 5 or 6 years for the official encyclopedia.

On those pictures JKR looks twice as old as he does. Maybe there is some justice in the world after all!

I'm sorry you have to deal with this crap, Jo. You are an amazing, strong woman, and I completely venerate you. This week will be tough, but there really is no case against you. This is your book, and no one should be allowed to take that from you. Best of luck with everything.

I feel for this guy. I really do. I have a feeling that he wasn't thinking of profit when he decided to try and publish the book... he just wanted to contribute to the fandom that he obviously loves. I agree with Jo one hundred percent, but I don't think so many people should come on here and completely bash Steve. You know?

Ok look at this guy! Does he seriously look like someone who would something like this just to make a profit? Hmmm I don't think so!

I feel like I'm the minority here, but I don't think Steve is entirely at fault. All Harry Potter fan sites are slightly biased in this matter; naturally, Jo is portrayed as the victim, the righteous, guiltless author, and Steve as the culprit and malevolent plagiarizer. But, this is not the case. I've been a user of HP lexicon and I've enjoyed its vast resources. Many fans have expressed a desire for a written copy of Steve's work. It contains essentially everything--spells, characters, places, all the hard-to-find tidbits from the novels. Now, it seems that Steve tried to contact the WB and Jo about the book, but received no response. As a person who's extremely diligent and respectful, Steve did go into great lengths to ask WB for mere permission to utilize images from the movies on his website. Had the WB not overlooked Steve's request about his encyclopedia like how they tend to treat fans, this case could have been avoided. It's an error in communication, and frankly, Jo and the WB are hardly guiltless in this matter. Lastly, the publication of numerous companion books illustrate a flaw in Jo's logic. Steve's website does contain editorials and opinions and interpretations of events in addition to actual quotes and resources. I find it hard to believe that the majority of the work has been plagiarized mainly because words like "spell" or "witch" or "wizard" (which also show up in other books like LotR) are used over and over again. Jo does not have copyright over these words.

I guess I can see both sides of this. On the one hand, if JKR had asked ME to cease and desist publishing something based on he work, I most definitely would have ceased and desisted (although you guys are probably right when you say it's too late for him to do that). On the other hand, I just don't get what people say when they accuse this guy of 'taking over" Harry Potter. Do the novels now say "by Steve VanderArk" on the cover? Are the royalty checks being forwarded to him? And HOW is this going to affect the market for the Scottish Book? People are going to buy the Scottish book in droves, whether or not the HP lexicon comes out--not because it will be handy Harry Potter reference (though I'm sure it will be), but because she has promised to include behind-the-scenes info and information that didn't make it into the books. In short, if she writes what she says she will, she will produce a product that offers readers something that no Lexicon or non JKR-produced encyclopedia will ever be able to do, ever. So again, I don't see how this Lexicon is going to hurt the market. Finally, when people ask: "how would you feel if someone did this to YOUR work?" Well, frankly, if someone loved my books so much that they decided to devote their LIVES to going through them and cataloging every minute detail in order to create a handy reference work that is so well-put together that I myself felt the need to use it at time (as JKR said she has done a time or two--it wasn't "sloppy" back then, was it?)--if someone did that for my books, I'd be just absolutely thrilled. I'd probably but a copy for myself and all my friends and family. Honestly, if she wants to go after someone, there are a zillion Harry Potter knockoff books that are probably much more plagiaristic without including the words "Harry Potter" anywhere inside.

RogueJedi86, if you want a compilation of existing facts go read the books. and the movies HAVE to be altered in order to fit the important plot points into a 2 hour movie. since peeves isnt a main character it wasnt really necessary for him to be in the movies.

I kind of feel bad for him, but then again, it's JK's books, and she should make the encyclopedia. The end. ;)

This is the first response I got in Steve's point of view and, yes, I do feel bad for him. BUT, J.K. Rowling's decision to testify against the lexicon is definitely more reasonable. Therefore, I support Jo. Also, Steve already has the lexicon website to share with Harry Potter fans. Then again, I don't think I can furthurmore my critism until we have more information on the trial.

I'm sure he'll still remain a fan and I admire (using that word verrrrrrrrrry loosely) him for that but it's his fault he's daft enough to have gotten himself into this mess!!...

if he's a true fan he would not be doing this to Jo!

I think that this is really sad... I think that I am one of the few who think this but I feel that Steve/the Lexicon seem to have been made into a scapegoat here. Does anyone really think that the Lexicon book would take away from profits of Jo's book? I mean, I am almost sure every single Potter fan will go out and buy Jo's book even if there is already an existing encyclopedia. They will be different. I really think that anyone who is a big enough of a Potter fan to go buy the Lexicon book is defiantly a big enough Potter fan to go buy Jo's book. It just seems very sad that it has come to this. If JKR sued me, it would be horrible but some of the comments she has made about Steve seem more like nasty personal attacks that aren't really needed. Would this case have been any different if the proceeds from the book were being donated to charity. I understand that technically Steve and RDR are violating copyright but I really don't think that Jo's encyclopedia would suffer in profits in the least. Although it seems that if RDR wins the case and the book is published, which probably won't happen, it wouldn't do very well becuase most HP fans will not want to buy it and other people will no be interested.

Jill_the_Impossible: "RogueJedi86, if you want a compilation of existing facts go read the books. and the movies HAVE to be altered in order to fit the important plot points into a 2 hour movie. since peeves isnt a main character it wasnt really necessary for him to be in the movies." The books aren't very fact-friendly. It'd take forever to read through the books just to find out what every Patronus is, and how many times the spell appears in the books, for example. And many facts aren't from the books, but from JKR's site, or the various interviews with fans she's had over the years(like when Mugglenet had a chat just before DH came out). How do you explain that? It would be quite difficult to scour the internet for EVERY interview JKR's done. A print form of HP-Lexicon would be useful in this case.||Peeves was just an example. How we do explain how Professor Flitwick mysteriously de-aged between movies? He was old in the first movie, and by movie 3 he was very young looking. How does that fit into the canon of the books? These are just random examples. The movies alter things as they see fit too, sometimes for no reason(Flitwick's age).

I feel really bad about this whole thing.

I feel bad for him, to have JKR dissapointed in you must be the worst... but if he really was such a big Harry Potter fan, I think that he should have respected Jo's wishes in the first place, and not published the book.

I feel really sorry for both of them now - he's over his head by this point. I realize that he's got no one to blame for it but himself, but still people, let's cut him a break.

I feel really sorry for both of them now - he's over his head by this point. I realize that he's got no one to blame for it but himself, but still people, let's cut him a break.