[HPforGrownups] Re: Now Rowling's control, was Less than 1000 posts

[k12listmomma]

No: HPFGUIDX 180257

> Shelley: "Ah, but fanfiction is FAR from actual published works. In
> that department, published works, we do have evidence of Rowling's
> control, for she is suing a fan who was putting together an
> encyclopedia of details from the works so far (most of which was
> already published on the internet,BTW), because it was Rowling herself
> who thought about possibly doing one for charity. She's maintaining
> her absolute control by that lawsuit. Fanfiction, on the other hand,
> is free and out there on the internet, and everyone knows that it's
> far from canon. This encyclopedia that she is suing about would be
> canon, because it would have been taken directly from the books
> themselves, a compilation of details already given."
>
> Jim Ferer
> That's very far off base. You are now criticizing JKR for defending
> her copyright.

You must have misread my post- I was not criticizing Rowling. I was backing 
up the thesis I had that she was controlling the show.

> She must defend her copyright or lose it. Are you
> seriously suggesting she should put her work in the public domain? She
> did write these seven books, after all, the greatest phenomenon in
> publishing history.

What I was talking about was not about the "right" to defend one's work 
against copyright infringement. Indeed, I believe that a comprehensive 
encyclopedia listing the times, events and people in the series would not be 
a copyright infringement, if it was put together correctly. What we were 
talking about is the level of control that Rowling still wants to have now 
over everything Harry Potter, as if someone now couldn't write a book 
similar to several others out there analyzing the HB books that appeared 
several books ago, long before the series long before it was finished. This 
encyclopedia would not be the rewriting of one book, but taking details from 
7 of them, and thus it could be done by someone else without violating that 
copyright. My point was now that the series is done, Rowling seems to have 
tightened her grip on who else can even comment on her works.

Shelley