I Was Wrong.
A few days ago, I posted about Rowling suing the webmaster of the Lexicon for publishing an unofficial Harry Potter encyclopedia. It seemed to me to be a very odd double standard--other unofficial books had been published before, and I didn't see that it would interfere with the writing or sales of her encyclopedia at all.
However, I just heard from someone who wrote an entry for the Lexicon. She provided a link to a statement by the publisher, who said that what RDR Books was doing was copying much of what was on the Lexicon:
The book contains critical analysis from “Steven Vander Ark and his staff"...Questioned further [Mr. Harris] said “the book was typeset directly from the site,” and that it was word-for-word taken from the web site.
Further, she says that while she doesn't know if her work is being used Steve's book, if it IS being used, no one asked for her permission to publish her essay.
Now, granted, this isn't why Rowling is suing. But her reasons for suing sound a lot more reasonable now than they did before.
In view of the new information, I have to say that I was wrong.
***
ETA: I've just heard from the young woman in question, and she says that she has now heard from the publishers. They told her that there ARE no essays in the book.
Which makes me wonder why they're still saying, at their own site, that there are:
It is an original book with a vast array of independently written scholarly articles.
However, I just heard from someone who wrote an entry for the Lexicon. She provided a link to a statement by the publisher, who said that what RDR Books was doing was copying much of what was on the Lexicon:
The book contains critical analysis from “Steven Vander Ark and his staff"...Questioned further [Mr. Harris] said “the book was typeset directly from the site,” and that it was word-for-word taken from the web site.
Further, she says that while she doesn't know if her work is being used Steve's book, if it IS being used, no one asked for her permission to publish her essay.
Now, granted, this isn't why Rowling is suing. But her reasons for suing sound a lot more reasonable now than they did before.
In view of the new information, I have to say that I was wrong.
***
ETA: I've just heard from the young woman in question, and she says that she has now heard from the publishers. They told her that there ARE no essays in the book.
Which makes me wonder why they're still saying, at their own site, that there are:
It is an original book with a vast array of independently written scholarly articles.