Rowling Faces Appeal In Court Case Against Fan

HARRY POTTER author J.K. ROWLING is facing a court appeal after a long-running battle with a fan who planned to publish an unauthorized guide to her wizard franchise.

Rowling and executives at Warner Bros – maker of the films and owner of intellectual property rights to the books – won legal proceedings against writer Steve Vander Ark and publisher RDR Books earlier this month (Sep08) after learning of their plans to release The Harry Potter Lexicon in a suit filed last year (07).

New York district court Judge Robert Patterson ruled in Rowling’s favor and banned the encyclopedia-style project’s release.

According to new reports, the men are expected to file a notice of appeal this week (beg15Sep08), dragging on the legal battle for publishing rights.

The writers have offered to revise the book and remove any offending or copyrighted passages, which Rowling has reportedly declined to agree upon.

Vander Ark says, “I’ve always been very much willing to work with (Rowling and Warner Bros) and try to see what can be done.”

As FanBolt went to press, representatives for Rowling could not be reached for comment.

(JMA/WNWCHP/MT)

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  1. Taminar wrote: If he’d just put everything in his own words, I don’t think she’d be able to stop it. There are lots of unauthorized guides to Star Wars and Star Trek. The fact that J.K. said she went to this guy’s site when she couldn’t remember something from her own books says that he did a really good job. I think the issue is that he used so many quotes from the novels. Anyway, I do wonder, if this guy hadn’t planned to put his website compendium into book form, and J.K. had pursued her plan to publish her own version, since she did often, by her own admission, refer to his site, I wonder how much of his work she would have nicked to make a buck for herself. Not that she needs it.

  2. Alexa wrote: Omg seriously..this needs to end already! I personally would never buy an unofficial guide especially when I know JKR is supposed to release one.