J.K. Rowling — in the news
April 15th, 2008 | by smokingpen |Specifically, her publisher and, by extension, she, are trying to block the publication of a private encyclopedia of Potter-ness. As people should know, or if you don’t, pull your head of out of the sand, J.K. Rowling is the author of the wickedly popular Harry Potter series of books. Seven in all.
Currently, a fan and librarian has put together, as an extension of his website, a book that is meant to be used as a companion piece to the Harry Potter series. Rowling (and publisher) are trying to stop this from happening because, according to them, this move steps on Rowling’s copyright and toes. Further, Rowling (and publisher) indicate that it will hurt her series, her creation, and her characters to allow anyone (other than Rowling) to put together or publish a book about the Harry Potter series. One reason for this is because Rowling intends to write her own encyclopedia to the Potter universe.
The grounds for this kind of action on the part of Rowling and her publisher sets a bad precedent. Rowling does own the creative rights to her characters and how they are written. She can control the stories with those characters and in that universe; however, I don’t see how this will affect, in any way, the validity of her series or the sales that can be generated. At this point, Rowling is fighting a battle that will disenfranchise a number of her readers. Her fight to maintain strict control over anything dealing with this work will, ultimately, undermine the integrity of the series.
I don’t believe this to be true as additional access to the series, created by a librarian, will only increase the sales and prominence of the series of books rather than detract from it. At this point, though, it is up to the courts to decide what comes next.