http://www.switched.com/2008/09/12/unofficial-harry-potter-encyclopedia-banned-thanks-to-jk-row/ Switched Comments for Unofficial ' Harry Potter' Encyclopedia Banned, Thanks to JK Rowling http://www.switched.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.switched.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.switched.com/2008/09/12/unofficial-harry-potter-encyclopedia-banned-thanks-to-jk-row/http://www.switched.com/2008/09/12/unofficial-harry-potter-encyclopedia-banned-thanks-to-jk-row/Sep 12th 2008 4:22PMhttp://www.switched.com/2008/09/12/unofficial-harry-potter-encyclopedia-banned-thanks-to-jk-row/http://www.switched.com/2008/09/12/unofficial-harry-potter-encyclopedia-banned-thanks-to-jk-row/Sep 12th 2008 4:41PMhttp://www.switched.com/2008/09/12/unofficial-harry-potter-encyclopedia-banned-thanks-to-jk-row/http://www.switched.com/2008/09/12/unofficial-harry-potter-encyclopedia-banned-thanks-to-jk-row/Sep 12th 2008 5:12PMhttp://www.switched.com/2008/09/12/unofficial-harry-potter-encyclopedia-banned-thanks-to-jk-row/http://www.switched.com/2008/09/12/unofficial-harry-potter-encyclopedia-banned-thanks-to-jk-row/
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comment that she had lost the will to write her own when on stand, stating reasons that Vander Arks encyclopedia should not be published, one of them being the lack of a need for her to create one.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. ]]>Sep 12th 2008 6:38PMhttp://www.switched.com/2008/09/12/unofficial-harry-potter-encyclopedia-banned-thanks-to-jk-row/http://www.switched.com/2008/09/12/unofficial-harry-potter-encyclopedia-banned-thanks-to-jk-row/
the link leads to a working version.]]>Sep 12th 2008 8:14PMhttp://www.switched.com/2008/09/12/unofficial-harry-potter-encyclopedia-banned-thanks-to-jk-row/http://www.switched.com/2008/09/12/unofficial-harry-potter-encyclopedia-banned-thanks-to-jk-row/Sep 12th 2008 8:25PMhttp://www.switched.com/2008/09/12/unofficial-harry-potter-encyclopedia-banned-thanks-to-jk-row/http://www.switched.com/2008/09/12/unofficial-harry-potter-encyclopedia-banned-thanks-to-jk-row/Sep 13th 2008 3:00AMhttp://www.switched.com/2008/09/12/unofficial-harry-potter-encyclopedia-banned-thanks-to-jk-row/http://www.switched.com/2008/09/12/unofficial-harry-potter-encyclopedia-banned-thanks-to-jk-row/
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.]]>Sep 13th 2008 8:35AMhttp://www.switched.com/2008/09/12/unofficial-harry-potter-encyclopedia-banned-thanks-to-jk-row/http://www.switched.com/2008/09/12/unofficial-harry-potter-encyclopedia-banned-thanks-to-jk-row/Sep 15th 2008 8:06AM