Yesterday we told you that J.K.Rowling and W.B. had filed the full injunction request against RDR Books to prevent them publishing a print version of the Harry Potter Lexicon. More information from that document has emerged.
The papers can be found
here with examples from the book
here,
here,
here and
here.
The document details that; the publishers claimed responsibility for any copyright infringement rather than the author, that Steve Vander Ark's profit from the book would be more than usual when copies were sold through the Lexicon website (or those linked with it), that W.B. are seeking to clarify that the Hogwarts timeline on the DVDs doesn't infringe any copyrights, that the contract for the book was signed on August 23rd 2007 with a September 1st deadline for the manuscript, that J.K.Rowling's name has been used on the book & marketing materials, that profit is the book's only purpose as it doesn't provide new information and that RDR Books purposely instructed agents not to pitch the book to Jo's publishers (Scholastic, Bloomsbury, Raincoast etc...).
Comments included come from Jeri Johnson (academic dean at Exeter College, University of Oxford), Neil Blair (solicitor for the Christopher Little Agency), William Landes (the Clifon R. Musser Professor of Law and Economics at the University of Chicago Law School), Diana Birchall (story analyst for WB) and Melanie Bradley (counsel at WB's law firm).
Also included is the cease & desist letter sent to W.B. by RDR Books regarding the Hogwarts timeline on the DVDs. It is asserted that the Harry Potter Lexicon has no copyright claim over the timeline, and that even if it did, W.B. has not infringed those rights. It is also asserted that the book was to be sold via children's bookstores, refuting any claims that it was to be academia. Uncertainty with authorship is also mentioned as Ark claims to have written the book himself, but an email from someone else claims there were twenty contributors.
You can read more on the history of the case at the links below.
J.K. Rowling files lawsuit J.K. Rowling’s statement RDR Publisher’s statement The Lexicon’s statement Judge issues restraining order Stanford Law School defends RDR Books Jo & WB file full injunction request
Source:
The Leaky Cauldron