Friday, April 18, 2008

J.K Rowling ko Gussa Kyon Aata Hain?

So, whats bothering everybody's favorite fantasy author nowadays. A lot apparently, or atleast enough to cause her to breakdown and cry in a courtroom. The case in concern is Ms Rowling and Warner Bros lawsuit against RPR publishers, who are attempting to print a book version of the Lexicon, an online collection of the whats what of Harry Potter, maintained by Stephen Vander Ark, a devoted Harry Potter fan ( Definition of "Devoted HP Fan"- 50 yr old loser who gave up his previous obsession with Star Wars for HP). Now, the official claim of the lawsuit is that this book or encyclopedia (though I always thought encycolpedia's were supposed to contain useful information) will hamper Mrs. Rowling's ability to write and publish such a book of her own. Adding drama (the useless kind, like the whole Ron-Hermione crap in HP) to this case, is the fact that both Mrs.Rowling and Mr. Vander Ark, broke down on the stand, Mrs.Rowling claims that this work is a theft of her life's work and its like looking at her own children blah blah blah... and Mr. Vander Ark claims that he is doing this out of his love for the books and profit was not his motive, ya right! So even though Mrs. Rowling is, in the strictest legal sense, probably right, I still find the lawsuit bemusing for a number of reasons:

1) I do remember Rowling herself once saying that she was agianst the idea of publishing a HP encyclopedia, and even if she does there will still be a lot of "Devoted Fans" (see definition above) who will stand in the queue for hours to buy it. My guess is Vander Ark himself might buy the 1st copy. And yes, if it is any good, we Indians will continue to buy em in the pirated market for 5o bucks.
2) Also as far as the quality of this Lexicon goes, Vander Ark's website is amongst the most popular of HP fan websites, infact Rowling herself has expressed admiration for it before. So the question needs to be asked- is thie quality ok as long as it is online and promoting HP sales and it all of sudden becomes crap when its on paper?
3) As far as any financial losses areconcerned, isn't Rowling stinking rich already ( I'm guessing the world will be destroyed by global warming before Rowling and her progeny are done spending her HP income), and again isn't the lawsuit itself costing money, I dont think Rowling's lawyers would come cheap. And honestly isn't the whole point of being rich that you dont need to bother about minor losses, which is all that this book will be.
4) Aso given the slew of lawsuits that shes been through, does Rowling reall need another one?

So I return to the original point, what is so damned important about this lexicon, to Rowling, to spend all this money and time ( to personally testify at the trial). If you ask me, the answer is plain and simple - frustration. Yes, I think Mrs.Rowling has had it with all the crap that the book has endured through, I mean the endless slew of crappy fan fiction ( a lot of which involved the characters doing unmentionable things to each other) before the 7th book itself is enough to drive any author crazy, not to mention the pathetic movie versions which Warner Bros comes out ( of course she can't sue them cause most of her money was given to her by them). And then there are people coming up with fake books, rip offs and what else, just to make a quizk buck. Not too mention people in India, China and other countries, who build bookshelf of pirated HP books ( all those in India reading this know what Im talking about). So finally, Mrs. Rowling found someone to target and vent out her frustration (which she did on the stand). But, I do have to question her judgement, I mean seriously, is suing your devoted fan the best way to prove your point, cause after all the initial euphoria dies down it's these guys who eventually drive your business and make you the money to finance your whimsical lawsuits.
Whatever happens I cant help but thinking, this would make a great Boston Legal episode!!

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