To sum up: someone’s trying to publish an encyclopedia for all things Potter but series author JK Rowling is determined to stop them. She doesn’t believe that anyone should make money off her property without her say so. Fair enough. Kind of.
If – and she may well be – Rowling is successful in her bid to stop the Harry Potter lexicon from being published, you have to wonder what is going to happen to all those unofficial guides and companions that have been so popular with fandom. Will it really be the case that nothing can be written for profit about Potter without JK’s say so? What happens to magazines wanting to feature a complete guide to Hogwarts? Will she even make the reviews copyright protected? And what happens if other authors and creators follow suit? It’s not an appealing situation but the courts could be on the verge of setting a dangerous precedent.
It must be made clear that Rowling is insisting this isn’t about money but about quality control. She has labelled the encyclopedia “sloppy” and “atrocious” and unworthy for publication. Funny, as that hasn’t stopped her recently.
Sick burn.
