Potter fan a crybaby in court

duhApr 17th, 2008 - 12:07:25

There have been several companion books to the 'Star Wars' films, and
I have yet to hear George Lucas whine and compain in court about
them 'plagarising'. Rowling simply wants to avoid possibly getting
a regular job like the rest of us, period! Besides, if I generate
a hard copy of the HP Lexicon's website, doesn't that constitute
'plagarism' in the same vein as the professionally produced version?!

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Porgy TirebiterApr 17th, 2008 - 12:37:39

re: Star Wars companion books--these are licensed by Lucasfilm.

The somewhat subtle difference between these two cases is that the screenplay was the product for Lucas. For Rowling, the book is the product and the films are then licensed from the book. (Same for The Davinci Code)
A fan writing their view of material presented in a movie is significantly different and actually legal. When you quote or paraphrase large portions of written material without permission, it is legally plagiarism.

You bring up another interesting point... Many websites plagiarize copyrighted material all the time. That does not make it either right or legal. We are just lucky that we don't live in Germany and some other EU countries where lawyers search the Internet for images used out of copyright and then legally 'extort' fines to preclude prosecution. (Imagine if that filter was applied to a site like MySpace or Facebook?)

This is a landmark case and I suspect that it will be resolved without a trial. Most publishers are hesitant to publish something which might result in them losing all of their profits to legal fees.

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Potter SchmotterApr 17th, 2008 - 12:49:49

'When you quote or paraphrase large portions of written material without permission, it is legally plagiarism.'

Not so--it can be copyright infringement--they are 2 very different things. Since everyone knows that his book is based off of Rowling's series, for her to claim plagiarism is ridiculous.

Also 'quoting' from large amounts of material without permission would fall under copyright infringement, not plagiarism, since you are attributing credit.

I think she's just grasping at straws, personally.

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JoeLibertyApr 17th, 2008 - 13:10:18

Dear 'DUH' (Susch a fitting title by the way),

'There have been several companion books to the 'Star Wars' films, and
I have yet to hear George Lucas whine and compain in court about
them 'plagarising'. Rowling simply wants to avoid possibly getting
a regular job like the rest of us, period! Besides, if I generate
a hard copy of the HP Lexicon's website, doesn't that constitute
'plagarism' in the same vein as the professionally produced version?!'-DUH


I do believe that these books were written with the express PERMISSION of Mr Lukas. Furthermore, he NO DOUBT got a piece of the profits. Shakespear, by the way, is PUBLIC DOMAIN, and bears no relation to this case.

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P WilkinsApr 17th, 2008 - 13:35:38

Would you like someone borrowing your car without your permission and renting it out to make money for themselves from your stuff. Intellectual property is still property.

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RobApr 17th, 2008 - 16:07:18

The man wrote a reference book. You can not copyright facts. The book probably presents facts about Rowling's books. If he wrote a novel about her characters she would have a case.

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MacafferyApr 18th, 2008 - 01:13:56

it's not his character to write about. G. Lucas said yes to all those books and then took a cut. JK says no. That's it and that's that.
No need to cry about it. 9 years ,give me a break!

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EmmaMay 3rd, 2008 - 10:09:06

'Since everyone knows that his book is based off of Rowling's series, for her to claim plagiarism is ridiculous.'

That's not what the plagiarism claim is about, it's that he's apparently lifted large portions of text directly from the books without quote marks or any credit whatsoever. In other words, he didn't write it himself. If that's true, then I can see the problem.

Re: those other companion books, I recall that they wer all written with permission, the authors and/or companies _knew_ about them and let them be published under some conditions. SVA never did that, in fact there was an email from him asking JKR's publisher if he could help writing the lexicon and getting a 'no'. I don't think this would've been as big problem if he had simply asked before starting it.

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MaCafferyAug 17th, 2008 - 16:44:31

He can however use the internet and dedicate an unouthorized site.
He can't get sued if he's not making money on someone else's idea.
it's just a useful tool to follow the books.

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