Judge Halts Publication of ‘Harry Potter Lexicon’

By SLJ Staff -- School Library Journal, 9/9/2008 1:33:00 PM

Steve Vander Ark won’t be publishing The Harry Potter Lexicon after all. U.S. District Judge Robert Patterson ruled yesterday in favor of author J.K. Rowling, who sued Vander Ark last November to stop publication of his book. 

The print version of The Harry Potter Lexicon would have been drawn verbatim from the material on Vander Ark’s Web site, one of the most comprehensive encyclopedic listings of all things Harry that’s used by people all over the world—even by Rowling herself. Created by the Michigan school librarian in 2000, the resource was so impressive that Rowling gave it a Fan Site Award on her official site.

Patterson permanently blocked the book’s publication, saying that its release would have violated Rowling’s copyright and caused the author irreparable harm as a writer. He also awarded Rowling and coplaintiff Warner Bros. $6,750 in statutory damages.

“I took no pleasure at all in bringing legal action and am delighted that the issue has been resolved favorably,” says Rowling in a statement released by her U.S. publisher Scholastic. “I went to court to uphold the right of authors everywhere to protect their own original work.”

Lexicon publisher RDR Books says the book fit under the category of fair use accorded to reference works. Patterson, however, said that the “Lexicon appropriates too much of Rowling’s creative work for its purpose as a reference guide,” adding that “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.”

Vander Ark says he has “no ill will whatsoever to Ms. Rowling” and is looking forward to “moving on with other projects,” including In Search of Harry Potter (Methuen), essentially a travelogue debuting next month that lists the actual places Rowling used as models for her mythic world.

“The more research I did, the more I realized that the places in the book were places in the world, particularly those in the west country, because she went to the university of Exeter,” Vander Ark says. The publisher says there are a “few words” from Rowling’s works included, but in light of the ruling they would likely be deleted.

At the time Rowling filed her lawsuit, she said the Lexicon would interfere with her plans to write her own definitive Harry Potter encyclopedia, which would include new material not found in her novels.

"I cannot, therefore, approve of 'companion books' or 'encyclopedias' that seek to pre-empt my definitive Potter reference book for their authors' own personal gain," Rowling said.