HARRY POTTER author J.K. Rowling has won a copyright infringement lawsuit against a fan and Web site operator who wanted to publish a HARRY POTTER encyclopedia, per the ASSOCIATED PRESS (via THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER).
U.S. District Judge Robert P. Patterson ruled in Rowling's favor on Monday, saying the author had proven Steven Vander Ark's HARRY POTTER LEXICON would cause her "irreparable harm" as a writer. Patterson permanently blocked publication of the reference guide and awarded Rowling and Warner Bros. Ent. $6,750 in statutory damages.
"I took no pleasure at all in bringing legal action and am delighted that this issue has been resolved favorably," Rowling said Monday in a statement. "I went to court to uphold the right of authors everywhere to protect their own original work. The court has upheld that right. The proposed book took an enormous amount of my work and added virtually no original commentary of its own. ... Many books have been published which offer original insights into the world of Harry Potter. The Lexicon just is not one of them."
Rowling and WB, who makes the films and owns the intellectual property rights to the movies and books, sued Michigan-based RDR Books last year to halt publication of material from the Harry Potter Lexicon Web site. A former school librarian, Vander Ark runs the site, a guide to the seven Potter books and includes detailed descriptions of characters, creatures, spells and potions.
The publisher argued the lexicon was a fair use allowable by law for reference books, not contesting that the lexicon infringes on Rowling's copyright. Patterson, in his ruling, said that reference materials are generally useful to the public, but Vander Ark went too far in this case.
"While the lexicon, in its current state, is not a fair use of the HARRY POTTER works, reference works that share the lexicon's purpose of aiding readers of literature generally should be encouraged rather than stifled," he said.
He ruled in Rowling's favor because the "Lexicon appropriates too much of Rowling's creative work for its purposes as a reference guide."
RDR's lawyer, Anthony Falzone, had not seen the ruling as of Monday afternoon and could not yet comment. AP's attempt to reach RDR publisher Roger Rapoport was unsuccessful.
Rowling has praised the Lexicon Web site, but testified earlier this year that it was nothing more than a rearrangement of her work. The prospect that a book would be published was enough to halt work on a new novel. "It's really decimated my creative work over the last month," she said during the trial in April.
If it were allowed to be published, Rowling said, "I firmly believe that carte blanche will be given to anyone who wants to make a quick bit of money, to divert some HARRY POTTER profits into their own pockets."
Vander Ark, who is a devoted fan of Rowling, started work on the Lexicon in 1999 and launched in 2000.
The HARRY POTTER series has been published in 64 languages, sold more than 400 million copies and produced a film franchise that has earned more than $4.5 billion at the worldwide box office.
