Rowling Stands Up For Authors' Rights

By Staff

Saturday, April 19, 2008, 12:20

London: Calling for the protection of authors' rights, Harry Potter author J K Rowling said the publishing a lexicon of her popular fiction series would clear the way for countless rip-offs of her books, as well as the work of other popular authors.

In an angry outburst on the final day of trial over the unauthorised Harry Potter encyclopaedia, Ms Rowling said, ''Are we the owners of our own work?'' The author is trying to block publication of 'The Harry Potter Lexicon', a guide to the characters, places and spells in her novels, which was written by Steven Vander Ar, a passionate Harry Potter fan.

She told US District Judge Robert Patterson Jr that she was ''vehemently anti-censorship,'' and generally supportive of the right of other authors to write books about her novels. Vander Ark had ''plundered'' her prose and merely reprinted it in an A-to-Z format.

Ms Rowling said she did not think anyone would read the lexicon and its list of facts about the wizard world for ''entertainment value,'' adding that the good parts had simply been lifted from her own work.

RDR Books, a small publisher which created a book from a website, has argued that it is little different than any other reference guide to an important novel, and should be allowed to go to press without interference.

A literature professor from the University of California, called by RDR Books, told the court that reference guides helped readers navigate jargon-packed fantasy novels.

Lawyers now have several weeks to file legal documents before a verdict is considered, according to a Daily Telegraph report.