Author Wins "Harry Potter" Copyright Case

September 9. 2008

JK Rowling

This is a follow up to the articles Rowling Fighting For Her Own Potter Lexicon and Judge To Harry Potter Author: Your Books Bite, regarding librarian Steven Vander Ark using "Harry Potter" author JK Rowling’s works without permission.

A judge has sided with Rowling today, upholding her copyrights. Van Ark must desist with his planned “Harry Potter Lexicon.”

"Harry Potter" cast

While I don’t care for the Harry Potter book series or films, the law is the law, and no one has the right to use another’s copyrights or trademarks without permission. That’s called stealing and it is a crime under domestic and international law.

What's a little troubling about this case is the Defendant, Steven Jan Vander Ark, thinks he is a wizard, even styling himself after Harry Potter. He also came across as obsessed with Rowling.

In spite of this verdict, Vander Ark, still has another book coming out called “In Search of Harry Potter.”

Rowling Wins Lawsuit Against Potter Lexicon

For seven years, a Harry Potter fanatic worked on a guidebook to J. K. Rowling’s best-selling series, but in the end, a federal judge ruled on Monday, his book was too close to the work he admired.

“Plaintiffs have shown that the lexicon copies a sufficient quantity of the Harry Potter series to support a finding of substantial similarity between the Lexicon and Rowling’s novels,” Judge Robert P. Patterson Jr. of Federal District Court in Manhattan wrote in his 68-page ruling blocking publication of a Harry Potter Lexicon written by Steven Jan Vander Ark.

The decision, which came nearly five months after a four-day trial, was a victory for Ms. Rowling and Warner Brothers Entertainment, the company that produces the Harry Potter movies. They had sued to block a Michigan-based publisher from producing the lexicon. Judge Patterson awarded the plaintiffs $6,750 in damages...

Mr. Vander Ark, 50, who bears a striking resemblance to Harry Potter, said he wished he could come to a resolution with Ms. Rowling that would allow him to go forward with the lexicon, which he said was written in response to the demand of fans of his Web site, also called the Harry Potter Lexicon.

For now, however, Mr. Vander Ark has his sights on his next Harry Potter project: his book “In Search of Harry Potter” is scheduled to be released next month. It is a memoir of his travels to locations similar to the ones described in the Rowling books...

Despite the criticism, Mr. Vander Ark showed his fascination for Ms. Rowling during the trial...

http://www.nytimes.com