Unofficial ' Harry Potter' Encyclopedia Banned, Thanks to JK Rowling

How unfortunate

I'm very pleased for Ms. Rowling's and all of the "Harry Potter" fans. To have competing encyclopedias, which could have ended up being more than two, assures the fans that the information they receive will be only from Ms. Rowling's, which is her baby. Good show Ms. Rowling's. Much continued success on all of your books.

I'm glad she stopped it from being released. It was copy writen material and they had no right to try and profit from her works. You wouldn't like it if they had done it to you. As a business owner I have several products in my line copywritten and I would sue anyone who violated that protection. He's lucky all she did was stop the book and didn't go after damages.

It is important to note (as was mentioned in this article) that J.K Rowling does indeed plan to use the proceeds from her encyclopedia for charity work, where Vander Arks proceeds would have been going to himself. It is also important to note that, contrary to what this article states, it is not "doubtful that even an official tome will see publication." Yes, J.K Rowling did state in April that she had lost some of the luster to write the encyclopedia, but she said that referring to the idea of publishing hers if Vander Arks encyclopedia was published as well!

Here is the FULL quote:

“This trial has decimated my creative work over the last month,” said Rowling. “You lose the [plot] threads and worry whether you’ll be able to pick them up again.”

“Should my fans be flooded with a surfeit of substandard books — so called lexicons — I’m not sure I’d have the will or heart to continue,” said Rowling, who went on to characterize the H.P. Lexicon as “sloppy,” “lazy,” and “incorrect.”

Rowling has stated to fans numerous times that she will produce a Harry Potter encyclopedia. And she always delivers. She directed the comment that she had lost the will to write her own when on stand, stating reasons that Vander Arks encyclopedia should not be published, one of them being the lack of a need for her to create one. I am sure now that Vander Arks is out the window, she will follow through with her plan to write her own.

that's funny but it seems to be existent still, i did a google search for Harry Potter Lexicon, then clicked on "Cached" comes up with a page stating "The Harry Potter Lexicon is undergoing technical difficulty and may temporarily be found here."

the link leads to a working version.

Rowling's in it for the profit. Still why is Vander Ark so stupid as to try and make money off of a print version of what is able to be updated at ease.

Rowling said the H.P. Lexicon is “sloppy,” “lazy,” and “incorrect?” Yet she said on her own official site that she referred back to it a few times [while writing The Deathly Hallows]. Whatever.

Nonsense. "Unauthorized" and "unofficial" guides to books, movies, and TV shows are published all the time with no problem, and in ways that benefit and promote the original work, while also earning revenue for the author.

The Lexicon itself was exhaustively researched, cross-referenced, and put together by Vander Ark and his team, who loved the books and treated them with respect. Rowling herself was a huge fan and used the site constantly. What's wrong with his making money from his work? Nothing? He credits her with the original works and even attempted to clearly delineate the Lexicon as a separate unauthorized piece. But Rowling would accept nothing less than a total shutdown.

To me she became a hypocrite the moment she reacted against publication. She had already been a fan of the Lexicon -- for years!! -- and the man has every right to make money off a truly useful resource for fans that cost him thousands of dollars and man-hours. But Rowling's billions evidently didn't stop her from greedy and grasping behavior when it comes to the entire situation.

The sad thing is, Rowling's own Lexicon would frankly not be copyright-appropriate either if (as she admitted in the past) much of the scholarly work for it came out of Vander Ark's Lexicon. Now he can't publish, his site is offline, and Rowling's compendium will likely never arrive either. Everyone loses. It's a shame.

Rowling is very antagonistic anyway (or her legal team is). A friend of mine made the mistake of putting the picture of an owl (an image she drew herself and OWNED) on a T-shirt design and Rowling's legal team insisted she remove it even though it had nothing to do wth Harry Potter at all. I've since seen it happen to several people who dare to use the word 'wizard' or 'owl' on a shirt or design.

Rowling here had a choice. She should have simply said nothing (except to insist that he inclue the clear "unauthorized" description to the title for legal purposes), have let it be published, and moved on. The fact that she didn't, and singlehandedly shut this guy down, leaves me angry and disappointed in her.

I can't believe the lexicon was taken off the internet! That was my source for everything! I mean yeah that dude had no right to create an encyclopedia for copyrighted stuff, but still. that was website was awesome.