This could have been done earlier if jo didnt love media attention.

Right now, I'm not at all surprised with the judges decision.

shut it grinds. he's right I think, it sounds like SVA got back to his senses and doesnt want to continue

me either

Maybe a settlement is a good idea, I mean, people would still buy Jo's encyclopedia even if he publishes his own version, right?

I agree tiassa. I'm not surprised at the decision though.

@ xLuna_Lovegoodx I would buy both.

lol cant wait until my comment is deleted. to add on to that, anyone who uses lawyers instead of themselves to talk to someone whos their FAN is either stupid or has another agenda. shut it tiassa. see i can do that too, fun rite

Grnd3lW4Ld... *sigh* get a life

Hey everyone, just because we're a bit ticked doesn't mean we need to take it out on one another. This is a blow, but personally I still think Jo can pull through. Sure, the fact that there's a law for this sort of thing does make things more complicated however I think it would be common sense for them to rule in Jo's favour. It's her ideas, her series, her characters, her life...

Jo has all rights to Harry Potter! She should have last say with all of it. She should not settle with RDR publishing company to publish that book. I dont think she will though. I dont believe she strives or loves the media attention. As far I heard, she has tried to limit the media attention around this as much as possible. She isnt doing this to get attention or money, shes protecting the 17 years of hard work she's put in! She has the right to that.

agreed

This isnt about em moony, is it? you dont go to a fan site about books created by me.

Jo has every right to stop the publishing. No one can publish and addition or sequel to a literary work until years (it's between 20-50, I can't remember atm) after the author's death. Jo is not being greedy. She wont get anything from rdr I think rdr should give up. They have no case

Amen to that, HPFAN4LIFE! You completely blew what I said away. :D I do hope Jo doesn't settle for this.

yes you can grinds, but when I get tired and retire to sleep someone will come and take my place. This is because you annoy more people then I do in case you were wondering.

She should pursue, she has a right to. Maybe this case could be an example for all involving copy righted material.

good for you then tiassa. bye! please?

I second HPFAN4LIFE!... if this isn't copyright infringement it is pretty close. He has no right to try and publish this encyclopedia being that it involves direct content from the HP books among other things. You don't see people publishing stuff around the Lord of the Rings world or Narnia now do you? Jo's the rightful owner to the HP rights and she alone should be able to decide where to draw the line...

I agree with the judge that "this case seems to be more lawyer-driven than client-driven". It seems like the case has stopped being about Steve's particular book and has become a media boon for fair use issues everywhere. Kind of sad that everyone has to go through this.

Don't listen to anyone who's rude to you Tiassa. They're just being sore.

I agree with HPFAN4LIFE and everyone else who made the same point. She should do whatever it takes to stop the publication. And if all else fail(which I doubt) we will just boycott it

They should both settle. That would be the closest thing to a happy ending, that this will get.

Ah, jup, seems the judge agrees with what I said ( http://mugglenet.com/app/ news/show/1574 ). I hope they can work something out together, instead of with lawyers... those lawyers probably just want to see money, whereas Jo has more 'n enough money I doubt she's after more. As for Steve... I'm still hoping that he'll say "I pull back" before this escalates.

tiassa is a big girl ganger345, she doesnt need youre help ;) thanks though.

Boycotting sounds like a fantastic idea. Seriously, RDR should have never picked a fight to begin with. Even if their book does get published, how many people will buy it? At this point, I think they've probably turned away several prospective buyers. It's despicable..

At least someone is sane... why shouldn't she settle? It would save everyone a lot time, money, and heartache. The judge is right. Fair Use isn't a black & white thing and if the judge says this case could go either way then I believe him. Perhaps some are jumping to conclusions when they say Jo is 100% right in this situation. I'm an artist too and while I would love to absolute say on everything concerning my works, the law simply doesn't work that way.

Posted by colorfulcrocs 4 minutes ago I agree with the judge that "this case seems to be more lawyer-driven than client-driven". It seems like the case has stopped being about Steve's particular book and has become a media boon for fair use issues everywhere. Kind of sad that everyone has to go through this.----------------The problem is that any decision reached by the judge (as any decision in any court case). If JKR shuts down the lexicon becuse she feels that it infringes her rights what is to stop her from shutting down anything that she doesn't like. In the bigger sense the trial is not about money for either person. If the lexicon gets shut down, sites that publish fanfic can be shut down next. If another author wants to write a companion book to a popular series, they will be shut down. I also have it on good authority from a friend that was on the team trying to get JKR to sell theme park rights to disney that she is super controlling and a five letter that starts with "B" when people want to use her creations. -Ben

The Fair Use Doctorine is pretty gray when it comes to matters such as these. Not too long ago, Warner Brothers and Scholastic pursued HP fan sites for copyright infringement. They backed down at the request of JKR, who had come around and recognized that you don't bite off the hand that feeds you so well. And the fact they went after little kids probably upset her just tiny, tincy bit. The judge's decision doesn't come as a big surprise to me, because if he finds against the defendent, that opens up a slew of possibility of copyright owners suing fans for using photos, images, and other copyrighted material in websites (and books). He finds against the plaintiff, it sends a free-for-all-message to all those would be die-hard fans that they too can publish their own books about their favorite books, TV shows, etc. As I understand it, if I wanted to write an "unofficial" review of Harry Potter, I'm within the legal parameters of doing so, under the Fair Use doctorine. Just as if I was a professor preparing a course on HP, I could publish my own book because it would be under the guise the scholarly purposes of the Fair Use Doctorine. Now, with the case of Lexicon, I can understand JKR's complaint---the author is quoting/paraphrasing content from the books. He should, in theory, footnote the reference. There is no harm in doing that. In defense of the Lexicon author, he was smart in that he made the publishing firm cover his lawyer fees should he be sued. He even expressed aprehension over copyright issues initially. But it doesn't give him a free pass. If he was using material from a book or another source, you should reference the material!

"lawyer driven." Ya think???

Hey, Grnd3lW4Ld, why are you being so rude? I was just trying to be nice. You don't have to attack eveyone.

Honestly? I think a portion of it is lawyer driven, another portion money driven and the rest built upon lack of common sense and respect (on both sides). But it sends a scary message to all those with similar websites that "you too can be sued" by the copyright owner. I understand the fair use doctorine, there's a lot of wriggle room for a book like Lexicon to be published. They're called "unofficial" for a reason. The question that keeps coming into my mind is that: If this isn't about money, then why on earth did JKR, WB and Scholastic let the website exist for so long? I don't completely buy her story that she was planning on working something like an enclcyopedia. There are literally hundreds of an fan published guides out there for various movies, books and TV shows. Most of them aren't official. And they, ironically, all fall under the fair use doctorine. I think what is setting Lexicon part from this, is that he's phrasing things in such a way he's not using his own ideas. He may not necessarily be copying things verbatim, but he should (as I said earlier) at least footnote the references.

I definetely think the J.K. Rowling should pursue. SHE CREATED HARRY POTTER, so I think she has full rights do to whatever-the-heck she wants to do, so long as it pertains to harry potter. Good Luck J.K. Rowling we're counting on you. (me especially!) :)

You said i was being rude to her Ganger, no offense but just leave it alone. Thats not really trying to be nice. sorry.

????kkk?????

I hate everything about this... I can't tell who is right and who is wrong. I feel sorry for Steve but at the same time I think he should just let it drop. Jo wrote the series so she should be able to have the final say. I think that even if Steve did win no one would buy the book, as most of the fandom is against him at this point.

Yes I know J.K. Rowling has worked hard on the hp series. Seven year to be correct, but I think that everyone need to put the series to rest and move on. Also I say that the judge just doesn't want to make a decision. Because he/she knows that making the decision will mean desapointing alot of people either way. Tough luck, Judge!!!

i just heard about this on the news about 10 minutes ago!

It's lawyer driven in SVA case. I don't like the settlement idea- but then again what true HP fan is going to by the book? When the Scottish Book is going to come out. (and when we MuggleNet's HP encycolpedia!) So maybe it'd show SVA when his "encyclopedia" doesn't sell. Frankly it's disgusting that he would profit from Jo's hard work.

In my eyes, the Lexicon has no Fair Use rights to stand on. I'm all for Fair Use, but this is just infringement. I'm glad the judge called the lawyers off, but there's big lawyer teams on both sides. Add delusional Fair Use zealots (I'd be one of them, but I've stated why I side where I do), and this is about even.

Why cant you be a harry potter fan and buy the book? Harry potter fan means you are a fan of harry potter, not jk rowling. This is a book about harry potter. most of the people who enjoy harry potter havent even seen this news, it isnt exactly mainstream, though im sure it will have some effect on how the book sells.

We could never move on from Harry Potter

They should have settled in the first place, but it was RDR that played games to avoid any productive conversation. There is no debate that SVA and RDR are infringing on JKR's copyrights. They even agree they are. The question is whether they are doing it in a way that allows them to violate her copyright under "fair use". Fair Use has four tests that must be met. In this case, two of them seem clearly favorable to JKR, and the other two seem murky still at this point (though I haven't had the chance to see all the testimony from today). Settling now would not only save more heartbreak for JKR and fans (I give no sympathy to SVA or RDR, both parties knew they what they were getting into and did it for money), but also settling would prevent the "slippery slope" conversation, as well as the endless appeals (possibly to the Supreme Court), that would follow a judge's decision. I don't blame the judge either. I wouldn't want to make the decision in this case myself.

You have to move on from everything at some point

JOS HARD WORK?? guys, she wrote a couple of books and got rich quick, calm down!! jeez, if it comes oout, im buying it, at this point id buy anything jkr dont want me to, rofl

I think if you're a true Harry Potter/JKR fan you won't want to read the RDR lexicon. They should never have stolen her work. I think most fans would rather wait for the REAL encyclopedia by the one person who knows EVERYTHING about the world of Harry Potter.

i think anyone who unilaterally backs jkr's 'rights' to have the last say on anything harry potter should actually read the fair use act that is the law on this. she has a very, very good chance of losing this trial because, in fact, she does NOT unilaterally control anything anyone ever produces which mentions harry potter. what this case is about, specifically, is whether or not SVA is in violation of the fair standards act, not in concept (since this kind of book has a long literary history), but in actual content (did he notate her work correctly or is there the possibility that someone buying the book will confuse her work as his). it is also because he is trying to profit COMMERCIALLY from a book that does largely rely on the recombination of her works. but guess what? she does not, UNDER THE LAW, have any claim to say 'well, i was going to do a book like it one day so he can't.' that's like trying to say 'well, i started a book about a boy wizard 2 years before she did and i would have written harry potter if she hadn't gotten to market first'. he's not writing a new work of fiction using her characters FOR PROFIT, but compiling an original work of analysis that she did not provide for. that he will get it done before her would not, in most people's opinion, diminish any potential sales if jkr decides to do a similar book in the future. grow up everyone. jkr doesn't walk on water and she knows she's in trouble on this one. what will doom sva is if he truly was that 'sloppy' in his actual execution, not in his concept.

who really cares about jk rowling? congrats jk you wrote a few books and people love you unconditionally, if i want to read a book i dont care what she says ill read it. yeah she really knows everything lol she had to USE LEXICON AS A REFERENCE< she said it before

Marie_Lee, what the hell? She wrote seven books, not counting accompanying books, which took a grand total of SEVENTEEN YEARS to plan and write. That IS hard work - you try committing to something for that long.