Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Rowling gets greedy

J. K. Rowling is suing to prevent a Harry Potter reference work, The Harry Potter Lexicon from being published.

In a statement, Rowling added: “It is not reasonable, or legal, for anybody, fan or otherwise, to take an author's hard work, re-organize their characters and plots, and sell them for their own commercial gain. However much an individual claims to love somebody else's work, it does not become theirs to sell.”

I’m confused; who is it that’s not being “reasonable” here?

At any rate, this case is interesting, because it shows how malleable copyright has become in the digital age. Apparently, the HP lexicon was a website before its print incarnation, and Rowling had praised it in the past. However, she is apparently threatened by the idea of someone else publishing a Potter book.

via Boing Boing

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