JK Rowling and Warner Brothers are suing to keep RDR Books, a small publisher in Michigan, from publishing a Harry Potter Lexicon.  Rowling was in court in New York yesterday, testifying against the publisher, RDR, and author, Steve Vander Ark.  Both Rowling’s declaration to the court and testimony were emotional, invoking the amount of hard work and emotional investment that had gone into the creation of her series of novels.  She classifies the Lexicon as “sloppy” and blatant copying.

Central to the case is whether the book constitutes scholarship and comment as is protected under the First Amendment, or whether the work is simply plagiarism as Rowling and Warner Brothers allege. Rowling enlists the support of Jeri Johnson, a Senior Tutor and Lecturer in American literature from Exeter College, Oxford.  Johnson’s statements allege that Vander Ark’s work indeed constitutes plagiarism rather than scholarly work.

Vander Ark’s defence includes two main points.  The first is that he has operated what he claims to be a well trafficked website that has similar information to that in his book.  Vander Ark had communicated several times, both in person and via email, with Cheryl Klein, a Senior Editor, Rowling’s US publisher.  The substance of their communications was Vander Ark requesting a position as an editor on a potential Rowling book of the same nature as the one that Vander Ark later wrote.  He makes his case, in the email correspondence that he is the perfect candidate based on the success of his website.  Vander Ark is using this correspondence to try to indicate that Scholastic approved of the content of the website, and that the content of the book is no different.

Continue reading for a CBS News report and some documents from the case:

Rowling’s initial statement:

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• Chery Klein’s, Scholastic editor who corresponded with Vander Ark, statement
• Correspondence between Vander Ark and Rowling’s representatives
• Jeri Johnson’s, Oxford Lecturer, initial statement
• Jeri Johnson’s second statement
• Rowling’s second statement
• Contract between RDR and Vander Ark
• Vander Ark’s statement