Apparently being the highest earning novelist of all time doesn't stop you from getting a case of distraught writer's block at the thought of fan publishing an encyclopedic reference guide to the world you created.
Steven Vander Ark's Harry Potter Lexicon went online 1999, and was wildly popular. Rowling even reported being fond of it and checking it herself while out writing. But once he got a contract to publish it as a book she cried foul and, with the kind assistance of Time Warner, sued. Vander Ark's publisher's lawyer argued that it fell under fair use of copyrighted material for reference books, but he lost (though was assigned the minimum possible penalty).
Intellectual property lawyer Paul Rapp has a few things to say to Rowling—and the judge. Specifically, he thinks the ruling is on sketchy legal and moral grounds and "contribute[s] to the paralyzing uncertainty
artists face when they have an opportunity to create something
new out of fragments of our culture."
I agree with Rapp. I do understand that she had plans to do her own encyclopedia, and that it would be annoying if a fan beat her to it, but is that a reason to get all sickly-dancing-kitten about the letter of the law over the spirit? Besides which, clearly hers would still sell, since it would have tons of original background info a fan wouldn't have access to.
I can see getting persnickety about spoilers. But isn't it the height of praise to have your fictional world considered worthy of its own reference book, in your lifetime? Worth, even, relaxing a little on maximizing your future billions?
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