Filed under: Computers

Copyrights are frequently mysterious and sometimes crippling things. Creative minds obviously need to protect their rights to their creations, but as the RIAA and MPAA have shown again and again, it’s quite possible to push the boundaries of copyright into the ridiculous. Sometimes, though, the boundaries are a little less clear-cut, as was the case regarding an unofficial encyclopedia about the Harry Potter universe that series author JK Rowling has prevented from publication, being ruled “not a fair use of the Harry Potter works” in a New York court.

The encyclopedia was written by Potter fan Steven Vander Ark, a school librarian who ran the ‘Harry Potter Lexicon’ fan site. Rowling originally supported the site, but when Vander Ark announced plans to sell a book based on the site’s contents for profit, Rowling recoiled. As of the legal ruling, the site seems to have been taken offline as well, leaving Potter fans unfortunately out in the cold.

For her part, Rowling indicated that the lawsuit was not about money, but rather to protect her interests from the sale of a book she called “wholesale theft.” She had earlier plans to write a similar encyclopedia and give the proceeds to charity, but as of now it sounds doubtful that even an official tome will see publication. [From: BBC News]

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This entry was posted on Monday, September 15th, 2008 at 7:39 pm and is filed under World news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.