Rowling sues over Potter book
2007-11-01 11:23
New York - A book billed as an unofficial encyclopaedic companion to the Harry Potter book series infringes copyright and attempts to cash in on the
successful series, author JK Rowling and Warner Bros said in
statements announcing a lawsuit filed on Wednesday.
The 400-page book, titled the The Harry Potter Lexicon,
due to be released by RDR Books on November 28 in the United
States, had inappropriately referenced Rowling's fictional
characters and universe, Rowling and Warner Bros said.
"The infringing book is particularly troubling as it is in
direct contravention to Ms Rowling's repeatedly stated
intention to publish her own companion books to the series and
donate proceeds of such books to charity," said the lawsuit,
which the plaintiff said was filed on Wednesday in federal
court in Manhattan.
The suit names RDR books, a book publishing company based
in Michigan, and unidentified persons as defendants and seeks
damages for copyright federal trademark infringement and any
profits to be gained from the book.
'Based on a website'
The company's website said the author of the book, Steve
Vander Ark, had based the book on a website that Rowling
herself had awarded for its excellence.
But in a statement released on Wednesday, Rowling said even
though she loved Harry Potter fan sites, she said she hoped to
write "the definitive Harry Potter encyclopaedia, which will
include all the material that never made it into the novels"
and donate the proceeds to charity.
"I cannot, therefore, approve of 'companion books' or
'encyclopaedias' that seek to pre-empt my definitive Potter
reference book for their authors' own personal gain," she said.
"The losers in such a situation would be the charities that I
hope, eventually, to benefit."
Warner Bros, a unit of Time Warner Inc and the
distributor of the Harry Potter films, said in a statement it
was seeking to protect its intellectual property rights so that
"everyone can continue to enjoy Harry Potter books and films in
the spirit in which they were created."