Muggles Beware: Rogue Harry Potter Publisher Back on the Loose!
Warner Bros
Call it Harry Potter and the Unrelenting Opportunist.
Despite a federal ruling earlier this year prohibiting fanboy extraordinaire Steven Vander Ark from infringing on J.K. Rowling's intellectual property rights and publishing a Harry Potter lexicon, the Michigan man says he has edited down the tome and will move forward with its publication next month.
There's nothing like a failed legal bid to bring an author around.
In September, a New York judge ordered the 50-year-old with free time to spare to pay nearly $7,000 in damages to Rowling for attempting to publish an encyclopedia that went beyond the realm of fair use for a reference book.
Having trimmed down the 400-page book and presumably removed that information which was deemed infringing, The Lexicon: An Unauthorized Guide to Harry Potter Fiction and Related Materials—now with less spoilers and more analysis and commentary!—will be released on Jan. 12.
"We learned a lot at the trial about what was acceptable, what would follow the fair-use guidelines," he said. "That was not clear before. There was no law on the books that made it clear what was acceptable and what wasn't.
"Coming out of the trial, I had a much better idea of what should go into the book."
In lieu of Vander Ark's new direction, the lexicon's publisher, RDR Books, has dropped its appeal of the case, a decision which seems to have appeased everyone involved.
"We are delighted that this matter is finally and favorably resolved and that J.K. Rowling's rights—and indeed the rights of all authors of creative works—have been protected," Rowling's attorney, Neil Blair, said.
"We are also pleased to hear that rather than continue to litigate, RDR have themselves decided to publish a different book prepared with reference to Judge Patterson's decision."
An initial printing of 10,000 books has been set for the lexicon's release.
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