SnitchSeeker.com - View Single Post - Harry Potter Lexicon talks fan encyclopaedia lawsuit

EmmaRiddle · 11-06-2007, 02:51 PM

Quote:

My question is: What's the difference between getting it online verus a bookstore, aside from payment? Would there be a big deal if they were requiring payment for using the site? If JK's Encyclopedia is going to be so similar to the one at the Lex, could the Lex then sue JK for using their site, their stuff, or would that fall under "public domain"? Also, if it's so similar, why should I buy JK's version when I can use the Lex for free?

However, it's the essay's that make the Lex, and if there are no essays, then why bother with it anyway?

Any fan making a profit from Harry Potter would, theoretically, be opening themselves up to the possibility of a lawsuit. Hence why things such as fansites and bands are allowed to exist - we don't make a profit. Publishing a book, however, when it has nothing but information (academia and critical analysis is different) which belongs to Jo, and will be commercially available, is crossing that line. Things like the timeline, though constructed by fans, consist of content that belongs to Jo. I don't think the two books will be similar, their argument is more about money - especially since JK's will is that charities should benefit from ventures such as this. If the book did contain essays, then with the writer's consent, I think it should be allowed, as they count for academic work.

11-06-2007, 02:51 PM	#18 (permalink)
EmmaRiddle Crup Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Cardiff, Wales, UK Posts: 17,077 Hogwarts RPG Name: Marcella Riddle Graduated	Kaplinski Rival Sorting Hat Machine Quote: My question is: What's the difference between getting it online verus a bookstore, aside from payment? Would there be a big deal if they were requiring payment for using the site? If JK's Encyclopedia is going to be so similar to the one at the Lex, could the Lex then sue JK for using their site, their stuff, or would that fall under "public domain"? Also, if it's so similar, why should I buy JK's version when I can use the Lex for free? However, it's the essay's that make the Lex, and if there are no essays, then why bother with it anyway? Any fan making a profit from Harry Potter would, theoretically, be opening themselves up to the possibility of a lawsuit. Hence why things such as fansites and bands are allowed to exist - we don't make a profit. Publishing a book, however, when it has nothing but information (academia and critical analysis is different) which belongs to Jo, and will be commercially available, is crossing that line. Things like the timeline, though constructed by fans, consist of content that belongs to Jo. I don't think the two books will be similar, their argument is more about money - especially since JK's will is that charities should benefit from ventures such as this. If the book did contain essays, then with the writer's consent, I think it should be allowed, as they count for academic work.