Rowling and Harry Potter: New Lawsuit; New Book
By Shannon Maughan -- Publishers Weekly, 11/1/2007 6:53:00 AM
J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros. (which owns worldwide licensing and merchandising rights related to Potter books and films) filed suit in Manhattan yesterday against Michigan publisher RDR Books to stop the company from releasing a book based on material from a Potter fan Web site.
The lawsuit claims that the RDR title Harry Potter Lexicon, scheduled for November 28 publication, edited by Steve Vander Ark, and largely culled from items posted on the Harry Potter Lexicon Web site,will infringe on Rowling’s intellectual property rights. Rowling has openly praised the efforts of fan Web site creators over the years, including Vander Ark, and several speculative books about Harry Potter’s world, some also written by fan site creators, have already been published. But putting this particular lexicon in print—for financial profit—is clearly another matter.
Most importantly, however, the proposed RDR book would also clash Rowling’s own announced plans to create the definitive Harry Potter encyclopedia, which will contain new material not found in her novels, based on the author’s extensive background notes. Her book is slated to benefit a number of charities. In a release from Warner Bros. Rowling emphasized, “I cannot, therefore, approve of ‘companion books’ or ‘encyclopedias’ that seek to preempt my definitive Potter reference book for their authors’ personal gain.”
RDR Books publisher Roger Rapoport stated in an Associated Press report that his house’s title “only promotes the sale of J.K. Rowling’s work and we intend to publish on schedule as planned.”
In other Potter news, Rowling has completed a new book. But her first post-Potter project is not what one might expect. The Tales of Beedle the Bard is the real-life incarnation of a collection of wizarding fairytales mentioned in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows as a gift left to Hermione by Professor Dumbledore. It is handwritten and contains illustrations by Rowling. Writing the book “has been the most wonderful way to say goodbye to a world I have loved and lived in for 17 years,” she told the AP.
Unfortunately, fans won’t find the book in stores. Only seven copies of the title were printed, with a brown leather binding and elaborate silver and gemstone decorative accents. Reuters reported that in a dedication to the book, Rowling states, “Six of these books have been given to those most closely connected to the Harry Potter books during the last 17 years. This seventh copy will be auctioned; the proceeds to help institutionalized children who are in desperate need of a voice. So to whoever owns this book, thank you—and fair fortune be yours.”
Sotheby’s will auction the book December 13 with an opening price of $62,000. The winning bid will be donated to Rowling’s charity The Children’s Voice.
But disappointed Potterphiles can take heart. Earlier today Rowling told the BBC, “There is a half-finished book for children that I think will probably be the next thing that I… publish.”
