Warner Bros & J.K. Rowling Win Legal Round Against “Harry Potter Rip-Off”

COMMENTS (33)

• “VanderArk did NOT seek out a publishing deal. He was talked into it by the publisher.”

  That’s hilarious! EVERY participant on NBC Daateline’s “To Catch a Predator” makes this EXACT argument. I suppose that all people of ill repute have the same thought process and hence the same excuses.

  I suppose another claim would be that this was his “first time” ever trying to monetize her (or anyone else’s) work. All of the guys on “To Catch a Predator” make that argument too.

  Comment by Harold — Tuesday September 9, 2008 @ 9:05pm PDT  Reply to this post

• “That’s hilarious! EVERY participant on NBC Daateline’s “To Catch a Predator” makes this EXACT argument. I suppose that all people of ill repute have the same thought process and hence the same excuses.

  I suppose another claim would be that this was his “first time” ever trying to monetize her (or anyone else’s) work. All of the guys on “To Catch a Predator” make that argument too.”

  Harold – Exactly the kind of comment I’d expect from someone who is probably watching “To Catch A Predator” to make sure his house isn’t under surveilance. Feel free to respond if you want to have an intelligent discussion and not a series of assassinine comments intended to make you feel superior.

  If you go read the court documents at http://www.justia.com its all there. RDR Books and their represenatives admit to that much. Regardless of your snide comments, the facts are in the court documents. RDR Books talked VanderArk into the book deal. And for the record, I never said that VanderArk was without blame, just pointing out some of the “facts” that were missed by others.

  Comment by Biodredd — Wednesday September 10, 2008 @ 5:00am PDT  Reply to this post

• Comment by Harold — September 9, 2008 @ 9:55 am

  Well said Harold. I am glad Rowling won the case. There is justice in this world after all. It is after all an infringement of her materials. If Shakespeare is alive today, I am sure he too would have felt the same, knowing his very own idea was being used by others for their own personal gains.

  Comment by Crow — September 9, 2008 @ 8:13 am

  Crow, this is not the case about the big rich man versus the small poor man. It’s about the rights of the materials that belong to the one that owns it, the one who thought of it, and the one who painstakingly worked on it. Your views on this matter is simply un-uniformed and may I say, just plain uneducated..

  “‘Should Van Der Ark have rephrased every definition he included in the book, rather than using JKR’s words? Absolutely’ “

  How different is this from him doing the same to plagiarize the original material that was first and foremost created by Rowling?

  “And before calling me anything more unpleasant than uninformed, just know that I have read and enjoyed all of her books. This was just tacky on her part.”

  I think you’ve been reading the wrong book and def not any from Rowling. The one you’ve been reading is titled ‘How to steal ideas from others and then call them your own & attempt to sell it for millions’ by Steven Vander Ark

  Comment by Biodredd — September 9, 2008 @ 2:14 pm

  VanderArk should have known better than to ‘greedily’ agree with the publisher to even consider having his work published. Is he THAT stupid or naïve to think he will be doing it for nothing, that the publisher won’t charge a dime to those who bought it, that they both are not going to earn money from this scam? How stupid is he (I do think he is very actually) to assume that his work will be accepted by others as his own and that the owner of the material would gladly relinquish her rights over to him.

  For someone who knows VanderArk personally, you should have warned him of this attempt to sucker on others work. What he did was unforgiving for a fan that he was and now is known as someone who was trying to get rich stealing from others.

  He has no reputation to begin with, if not for Rowling books in the 1st place. What he has earned now is a reputation as a thief and no amount of sorry here or on any other website is ever going to change that.

  This is a classic case of the biting the hands that feeds.

  Comment by Armand — Wednesday September 10, 2008 @ 7:13am PDT  Reply to this post

• Comment by Rory L. Aronsky — September 8, 2008 @ 2:57 pm

  She is the lawful owner of her work, just like Lucas whom thought of, created, wrote and directed Star Wars.

  If not for people like Lucas, Rowling, Shakespeare and Stan Lee, we will never know and enjoy movies such as Star Wars, Harry Potter, Romeo and Juliet and X-Men.

  So what is wrong with these people wanting to protect what is theirs? You’re telling me you are ok for others to gain from your hardwork and creativity? I wonder how you would react if someone were to take credit for your work.

  Those who oppose to the owners of their materials not allowing it to be shared or copied by others, first you need to understand the term ‘copyright’. (www.whatiscopyright.org) Hopefully you will learn something there.

  Comment by Armand — Wednesday September 10, 2008 @ 7:36am PDT  Reply to this post

• Armand – VanderArk was cautioned. He was warned by friends and family to not let the publishers manipulate him.

  Again, I’m not saying he is without blame. He does play a role in the events that occured because of the decisions he made. I’ve never said he was without blame. I don’t believe that for a moment.

  Its just that its so easy for people who have never met the man to say the most vile, hateful things because they are insulated by a computer screen. People get awfully brave when they don’t have to look someone in the face.

  Ultimately all I really hope for is that VanderArk learned a valuable lesson and if there is a possibility of a next time he will take the advice of friends and family over a publisher that has nothing but dollar signs in their eyes.

  Comment by Biodredd — Wednesday September 10, 2008 @ 2:20pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Comment by Biodredd — September 10, 2008 @ 2:20 pm

  Right! So from now, we should get to know the thieves that stole from us, why they did what they did, pity them for their foolishness, for their mistake

  He see it thru the end of the suit, hoping against hope that it would have gone his way.

  Do I care to know what kind of person is he? Well, a blind, deaf or mute man can tell already. He is greedy and he knows it deep inside that what he did was wrong.

  ‘Its just that its so easy for people who have never met the man to say the most vile, hateful things because they are insulated by a computer screen. People get awfully brave when they don’t have to look someone in the face”

  I have not see any apology from him to Rowling so far. Infact, in the midst of the trial, he should have known better to quit and drop the entire thing, for he is sure to be NOT that stupid. Why don’t he come out from hiding and offer an aplogy to all. The story would have been different then. His refusal to do this further proves a point, he knows what he did was wrong.

  Educated people make educated and informed decision, based on the actions of the guilty. Those who needs to be see them in real life does more for curiosity sake rather than anything else.

  Please show him this column. Hopefully he will learn and understand how he has dissapointed his many fans for his stupidity and greed.

  By the way, I have no sympathy for the devil!

  Comment by Armand — Wednesday September 10, 2008 @ 5:07pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Armand -

  “In fact, in the midst of the trial, he should have known better to quit and drop the entire thing, for he is sure to be NOT that stupid.”

  It would be tough for him to stop the trial when he was simply a witness and not the party being sued. The lawsuit was between WB and RDR Books, not WB and VanderArk.

  Have you actually read any of the transcripts or do you just go around throwing out uninformed opinions?

  VanderArk made a mistake, yes. I agree. But he had no power to stop the preceedings in the capacity of a witness. Only the litigants have that authority.

  RDR Books might have been able to stop the preceedings, but based on their steadfast attempts to see the book through to publication makes me skeptical that it was a consideration for them at all since they continued to try to sell the book overseas after numerous requests to not do so until the matter could be settled.

  Comment by Biodredd — Thursday September 11, 2008 @ 10:10pm PDT  Reply to this post

• Steve VanDer Ark did nothing creative or unique. He simply took Jo Rowling’s work and shuffled it into different order.
  No, even worse. He created a site and encouraged others to contribute their work, out of love for the characters and to (supposedly) feed the commons.
  He then takes the countless man-months of others’ labor obtained under false pretenses, shuffles it over to a book publisher and tries to profit off of it. Keeping the money for himself.
  …Hardly the actions of a struggling artist facing off against The Man. VanDer Ark is The Man. Just a poor, pathetic, thieving man.

  I won’t even bring up the fact that Rowling’s Pottercyclopedia’s profits – all of them – go to children’s charities. So in addition to stealing from unpaid contributors, he’s stealing from underprivileged kids, too. Whoops, too late. I just did.

  He’s a despicable worm wrapping himself around the false mantle of artistic freedom.

  Comment by trai_dep — Saturday September 13, 2008 @ 1:08am PDT  Reply to this post