JK Rowling Takes the Stand at Harry Potter Copyright Hearing  4/15/08

Author J.K. Rowling told a court on Monday (14Apr08) that a fan's plans to publish a Harry Potter encyclopedia "constitutes wholesale theft" of 17 years of work.

The British writer sued Michigan-based RDR Books in 2007 to prevent the publication of Steven Vander Ark's Harry Potter Lexicon, citing copyright infringement.

Rowling has so far managed to stall the publication of the 400-page text, which was initially intended for release last November (07).

At the U.S. District Court hearing in New York on Monday, Rowling told Judge Robert Patterson Jr., "I think it's atrocious. I think it's sloppy. I think there's very little research. This book constitutes wholesale theft of 17 years of my hard work."

She added, "We all know I've made enough money. That's absolutely not why I'm here."

When asked by her attorney, Dale Cendali, what the Harry Potter series of books means to her, Rowling fought back tears.

The mother-of-three replied, "I really don't want to cry. These characters continue to mean so much to me over a long period of time. The closest you could come is to say, `How do you feel about your children?' These books, they saved me."

Rowling recently revealed she plans to write her own Potter encyclopedia.

 

 

 

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