: )

to Roonil and others: in my comment i am not, for want of a better word, "targeting" those who have actually thoughtfully and objectively looked at the case and made the decision to support Jo. it's totally fine to support Jo, as long as you have looked at the case objectively and made an intelligent choice based off of this. in my opinion, however, it is the flawed mentality that the majority of posters have that is wrong -- the flawed mentality that entails anything Jo touches turns to gold. so Roonil, i agree with you and I don't think you are a Jo following zombie.

Agreed, RKRK. I'm not frustrated with those who have thoughtfully and objectively studied the case and have ultimately chosen to support Rowling. It's the "ZOMG ITZ ROWWLIN S0 SHE MUS AUTOMATICLY B RIGHT YAY I SUPPRT ROWLIN I HAS A SHRINE TO HERR IN ME BASMENT" people that bother me! XD I have a TON of respect for Rowling, but this case leaves me feeling very confused and sad for Ark. Can you imagine having hordes of people (including your hero) putting you down? Eek!

CrimeofPassion - why should anyone feel bad for Steve Vander Ark? He brought all of this on himself through his own bad choices. He knew full well that to publish an encyclopedia like this would be illegal. A few years ago, he responded to an e-mail from someone who was considering it and told them that it would be illegal - that e-mail was entered as evidence in the trial. He was rude and inflammatory towards Jo and the HP books at a fan convention - the video of that was also entered into evidence. His behavior has been horrible throughout this entire ordeal. What he has done is little better than a burglar breaking into someone's home, stealing their furniture, and attempting to sell it for their own profit. He used 91.41% of Jo's work without attribution and without permission. That is just wrong regardless of who the original author is. Bad choices are always going to have negative consequences. I have absolutely no sympathy for Steve Vander Ark.

Where is MC?

94.41%??? wow..how exact! (not being sarcastic, just amazed at how...welll.. exact it is) yes..and where is mc??

Mugglecast??

it seemed to me that this article was a little biased towards favoring RDR just because they're the little publisher vs the big bad millionaire author and big biz WB. They didn't even try to get some decent facts straight. But that's my opinon. Anyways, Where's MUGGLECAST????? hope they don't release it at midnight again...it's sorta annoying.

jacobs06 - there was a pie chart that was brought up during the trial. Dean Johnson created it after doing a side by side comparison between the Lexicon book and the Harry Potter books. According to the pie chart, the Lexicon consists of 91.41% of material directly from the HP books.

As much as I am definitely against people who form strong opinions without knowing as much info as they can, I can understand the tendency to favor Jo's side. She has given us all a LOT. For me personally, I have some really good friends I would never have met if it weren't for Harry Potter. She's inspired a ton of kids to read, and she's given us something to turn to when we're having a bad day. Most HP fans know how generous JKR has been with us in the past, letting us write fanfics and publish them online to our hearts' content. There have been huge amounts of fansites, books written about HP, conventions, wizard rock, and she hasn't stopped any of this. She tried to work this out with RDR and company, but they wouldn't even let her and WB see the manuscript. They've been disrespectful throughout the whole ordeal. Just knowing all of this, and without knowing anything about copyright laws, it's pretty easy to say, "Support Jo!" It's annoying when people blindly agree with her, I think, but it's most annoying to me when people hear "JKR is suing a fan" and automatically think, Oh God, JKR just wants attention because the series is over, what a hypocrite! etc. These people obviously know nothing about the case either. So I guess it goes both ways.

I agree with Roonil, however none of us know(since no one will admit to it) how many people have read the transcripts. You cant say most of us are following her like zombies because for all you know we've all read them. I thought I would have a hard time reading them but once I started I realized that they are really interesting. This makes me think that maybe other did as well. After all, we harry potter fans have been known to read. By the way Im talking here only about fans, I have no doubt that writers of articels such as this didnt bother looking at anything before writing this. Whatever side they take I don't believe they know what they're talking about. all that said, GO TEAM JO!

I read the opening statement for the prosecution in full-- Rowling should have this case handed to her open and shut. It's a clear violation.

*headeskheadeskheadeskhea desk* MAKE THE MADNESS STOP!!! This is worse then the Dumbledore incident, I can't possible say anything that I haven't said in a past post!

I doubt that trying to publish an encyclopedia of someone elses work is actually illegal, seeing as I personally own a Lord of the Rings encyclopedia NOT written by Tolkein or his family members, and have seen similar encyclopedias for sale.

How come when the site was free (presumably it contained the same factual errors) She happily endorsed it? Wouldn't this still be a diservice for her fans, yet She gives a glowing endorsement evening going as far as calling it her natural home. The minute RDR & SVA attempt to make a Lexicon for sale, this once natural home that even her editors went to for fact checking, suddenly becomes sloppy.

I wish the trial would end. It's getting old and everyone keeps making the same points. There are more important things at the moment. For example..how bad the director is butchering the HBP. That'd be a good topic of conversation for awhile!

"For example..how bad the director is butchering the HBP. That'd be a good topic of conversation for awhile!" But that's not *news.* Every Harry Potter movie has been butchered! XD

Hahaha CrimeofPassion, so true...

I'm fully behind Jo on this, as I'm sure all true Harry Potter fans will be! One of Jo's main reasons for not wanting the book to be published (as she explained on her website) is that she intends to publish such a book for charity herself and if the Lexicon one is to be published the charity will miss out! I do not see anything arrogant in this what so ever! So I think that RKRK1313 is the one being hypocrytical - he/she says that other fans need to get a brain before they make comments on here but he/she hasn't even bothered to read Jo's own account of things and doesn't even know all the facts! And for crimeofpassion to say that Jo's fans are "brainwashed" is simply ridiculous! If Jo didn't have valid reasons for not wanting the book published then I'm sure no one would listen, but the fact is - she has! I am fully aware that there are other books about Harry Potter by people other than Jo but these are not an "encyclopaedia" of Harry Potter facts like the Lexicon one and so they do not jeopardise Jo's chances of raising money for her choosen charities! I think people need to understand all the facts before they start criticising other peoples comments on here!

This kind of case really isn't all that unusual. But what it comes down to is copyright. JK owns the copyright to all her characters and all her written material. As fans she allows us to enjoy and discuss anything Harry Potter. But when you decide to start making profit off of someone else's intellectual property, that is infringement and you shouldn't be allowed to make a profit off of someone else's idea. That is why copyright law exists. JK allowed the website to thrive but the minute it became a book for profit, she had to act or anyone would be able to use her property for profit. For me the case is a no-brainer. The book should be shut down. If he wants to write a book let him come with his own characters and create his own world.

It doesn't matter if JKR wants the book to be published or not - literary guides such as the Lexicon are perfectly legal. I hope she doesn't decide to quit writing her encyclopedia because she doesn't understand copyright law.