The Harry Potter Lexicon is a fan-created online

encyclopedia An encyclopedia is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge, either general or special, in a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into article (publishing), articles or entries that are arranged Alp ...

of the ''

Harry Potter ''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven Fantasy literature, fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young Magician (fantasy), wizard, Harry Potter (character), Harry Potter, and his friends ...

'' series.

Overview

The site was created by American school librarian Steve Vander Ark. It contains detailed information for all seven published ''Harry Potter'' books. The Lexicon lists

characters Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to Theoph ...

places Place may refer to: Geography * Place (United States Census Bureau), defined as any concentration of population ** Census-designated place, a populated area lacking its own municipal government * "Place", a type of street or road name ** Oft ...

, creatures, spells, potions and magical devices, as well as analyzing magical theory and other details of the series. The Lexicon is credited as creating one of the first timelines of all events occurring in the ''Harry Potter'' universe. A similar timeline of events was adopted by

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

for inclusion with their ''Harry Potter''

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

DVDs, and was accepted by author

J. K. Rowling Joanne Rowling ( ; born 31 July 1965), known by her pen name , is a British author and philanthropist. She is the author of ''Harry Potter'', a seven-volume fantasy novel series published from 1997 to 2007. The series has List of best-sell ...

as conforming to her works. The Lexicon is a winner of J. K. Rowling's Fan Site Award. Rowling said:

Lawsuit

On October 31, 2007, J. K. Rowling and

Warner Brothers Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

filed a lawsuit against RDR Books over the publication of Vander Ark's Lexicon in book form. The lawsuit was heard in a

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

court on April 14, 2008, so precedent from the Second Circuit applies. The lawsuit states: The result of the lawsuit was that the book could be published, but not in its present form. A modified version of the book was published in 2009. This case went to

bench trial A bench trial is a trial by judge, as opposed to a jury. The term applies most appropriately to any administrative hearing in relation to a summary offense to distinguish the type of trial. Many legal systems ( Roman, Islamic) use bench trials ...

in the New York Federal District Court of Judge Robert Patterson on April 14, 2008. RDR Books’ defense team, which includes solo San Francisco practitioner, Lizbeth Hasse of the Creative Industry Law Group, solo New York practitioner David Hammer, and the

Fair Use Project The Fair Use Project is part of the Stanford Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School. Founded in 2006, it offers legal assistance to "clarify, and extend, the boundaries of "fair use Fair use is a Legal doctrine, doctrine in U ...

Stanford University Law School Stanford Law School (SLS) is the Law school in the United States, law school of Stanford University, a Private university, private research university near Palo Alto, California. Established in 1893, Stanford Law had an acceptance rate of 6.28% i ...

, has replied to the suit, arguing: Rowling stated that her efforts to halt the publishing of the Lexicon have been crushing her creativity, and said that she was not sure if she has "the will or the heart" to now publish her own encyclopedia. On 8 September 2008, Rowling won her copyright case against RDR Books. The judge concluded that there was too much direct quotation (attributed and unattributed) and that though the books was transformative in respect of the Harry Potter series, it was less transformative of the "schoolbooks" (''Magical Creatures'' and ''History of Quidditch''). The minimum award was made of $750 for each of the infringed works, for a total of $6,750, and an injuction was made preventing publication of the book in its then current form. Lexicon publisher RDR Books said:

Publication

In December, 2008, a modified (and shorter) version of Vander Ark's Lexicon was approved for publication and was released January 16, 2009 as ''The Lexicon: An Unauthorized Guide to Harry Potter Fiction''.

References

External links

The Harry Potter Lexicon

Case page
on Justia.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Harry Potter Lexicon, The Harry Potter websites Encyclopedias of fictional worlds

Overview

Lawsuit

Publication

See also

References

External links