[HPFGU-OTChatter] Re: Thoughts from a Different Perspective

[P. Alexis Nguyen]

Alla:
> Thanks for the quotes. So you seriously believe that publisher can
> FORCE the person to enter a contract which said person has no desire
> to enter whatsoever, moreover to enter a contract that said person
> has serious legal concerns about? All that publisher has to say is
> don't worry it is going to be fine.

Ali:
You're right about force.  There was no forcing of anything on the
part of either party.  BUT SVA has been wanting to do this book but
has been worried about copyright issues.  RDR comes along and says
that it's not a problem.  Being in a position of authority on the
matter, RDR's word holds quite a bit of weight.  How can SVA be
condemned for listening to them?

I mean, my gut instincts is that the earth is flat and is not spinning
into oblivion in the vastness of space.  Someone comes along and says,
"I'm not a scientist, but I work at NASA, and I know for a fact that
the earth is round and spinning."  I'm going to take this person's
word for it because he's more of an authority than I on the subject,
despite my gut saying that he's wrong.


Alla:
> RDR approached Steve, sure, but IMO you cannot hire somebody for the
> job unless their resume is already on the market.

Ali:
Sure you can.  Headhunters are notorious in the business world.  If
you can make a better offer and present a better case ...  I can also
think of several bloggers who never thought about publishing in a
physical medium but, because their blogs got popular, got approached
for (and accepted) book deals.  SVA's name was out there thanks to the
Lexicon, but that doesn't necessarily mean he put his resume on the
market, per se.


Alla:
> And heee, indemnification provision, sounds like very strong evidence
> to me that Steve knew he may be facing possibility of lawsuit and
> went ahead anyways.

Ali:
Hm.  Is that really a problem that he's smart enough to cover himself?
 I mean, doctors buy malpractice insurance even though they (most of
them anyway) do work in good faith.  Because America tends to be a
very litigious-happy place, I'd actually say that SVA would be quite
stupid to NOT put that clause in his contract (and in fact, I would
wager that clause appears in many, many, many contracts) - forgetting
JKR and remembering that WB is involved, I would worry about a lawsuit
even if I *knew* I was in the right.

And I have to throw it out there, because Steve mentioned it in
another post, I generally don't read many (only some) of the opinion
of the JKR supporters because they tend to be so emotional and not
based in facts.  Alla, despite your opinions being diametrically
opposed to mine, you are one of the few whose opinion I still read
because it's clear that you've formed your opinions from the facts
(and this is clear from what you say, not because you say that you've
read said facts, which many JKR supporters say they do but obviously
haven't).

My two cents.

~Ali