Lexicongate

From Fandom wank wiki

Also known as Why does JKR hate freedom?, JKR vs. SVA & RDR OMG, and others. Lovingly posted and updated by Cleolinda, who sacrificed many hours of sleep and maybe some of her sanity so that we might mock. Also with link/research assistance from auralan, lidane, pyratejenni, White_Serpent, and Narcissam (and many others), and legal analysis from praetorianguard.

Began November 1, 2007. No end in sight.

Contents

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The Cast

  • Steve van der Ark Vander Ark (SVA), owner of the HP Lexicon website.
  • RDR Books, his would-be publisher. Headed up by Roger 'Rabbit' Rapoport. Assisted by his lawyer, Cousin Vinny.
  • JKR
  • Warner Bros.
  • An army of lawyers, including key members of Stanford Law School's Project for Furthering Their Fair Use Agenda.
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The Road to Lexicongate

July 30-August 1, 2004: Convention Alley, an HP4GU convention, is held in Ottawa. In November 2007, soleta_nf would recallthat during this convention, Steve Vander Ark revealed his motives for creating HP-Lexicon.org:

“ He said then that his real reason for starting the lexicon was that he knew JKR would be publishing an encyclopedia someday, and he hoped that, by having already created one, he would be the person she approached to help her with it.[1] ”
— {{{source}}}

August 2-5, 2007: Prophecy 2007: A Harry Potter Conference is held in Toronto. Reportedly during this convention, it comes to light that Steve Vander Ark has been denied permission by JK Rowling to publish HP-Lexicon.org as a book. [2]

September 12, 2007: Rowling's agency, Christopher Little, contacts Vander Ark and RDR that she is still planning to publish an official Potter encyclopedia and asked Vander Ark not to publish his unofficial one.

September 18, 2007: The lawyer for Rowling and Warner Bros. sends a cease and desist notice to Vander Ark and RDR. Steve replies to the 9/12 message saying he has been asked to leave everything to RDR.

September 19, 2007: RDR responds to the 9/18 C&D letter saying they will take the matter under advisement.

October 3, 2007: The JKR/WB counsel basically says "It's been two weeks, shit or get off the pot!" RDR president Roger Rappaport requests more time due to a death in the family, which everyone knows is a more effective excuse than saying "the dog ate my homework."

October 11, 2007: The JKR/WB counsel discovers that while Rappaport was supposed to be mourning a dead relative, he was in fact sending a C&D notice to Warner Bros. for the use of HP-Lexicon.org content in several Harry Potter DVDs. Warner Bros. requested a print copy of the Lexicon in order to evaluate this claim. However, RDR (perhaps assuming this to be a ploy to obtain the Lexicon manuscript strengthen JKR/WB's position regarding the 9/18 C&D) denied this request, stating "If you do not know how to print that material [from the Lexicon Website] please ask one of your people to show you how."

October 19, 2007: JKR/WB lawyers send a third notice. RDR says they'll be looking into it.

October 23, 2007: Christopher Little Agency determines that RDR has been busy peddling distribution rights to the Lexicon book in Germany and Taiwan instead of, y'know, "looking into it."

October 24, 2007: The JKR/WB counsel sends a fourth notice, asking RDR to please resolve the matter in good faith and provide a copy of the Lexcion book. RDR responds "NO U" and that Rowling has tacitly authorized the HP-Lexicon.org and allowed unofficial books similar to the Lexicon book.

October 31, 2007: Rowling and Warner Bros. file suit against RDR. USA Today runs a story about it.[3]. Cleolinda brings the story to fandom_lounge, since there is no wank yet. [4]

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Lexicongate Begins

November 1, 2007: That didn't take long. The first Lexicongate wank report is posted. Reactions within fandom to the lawsuit include:

  • WAHHHH JKR is stifling fannish interpretation! [5]
  • But this is just like the book Mugglenet published and JKR didn't mind then! [6] [7] [8] [9]
  • I hope Rowling loses all her money for saying Dumbledore is gay! [10]
  • The Lexicon is out of date and filled with errors anyway! Also it says Ginny is a slut. [11]

Not to be outdone, Roger Rappaport offers his own hysterical response:

“ "Steve created this Web site as a volunteer project on his own time and stopping a book of his own creation is not something that happens in America. It's something that could only happen in a police-state."[12] ”
— {{{source}}}
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Lexicongate II: The Next Day

November 3, 2007: The second wank report appears, and everyone realizes we're gonna need a bigger wiki.

The Leaky Cauldron, that bastion of hard-hitting journalism whose name sounds like something from an Enablex ad, is on the story! [13]

The site reports that the Lexicon book has been typeset directly from HP-Lexicon.org without input or consent from the sites contributers, with the entire body of work being credited to Steve Vander Ark "and his staff." This does not sit well with several Lexicon contributors, until word circulates that no essays on HP-Lexicon.org will be incorporated into the book.

TLC also questions RDR spokesman Richard Harris, who explains that RDR did not turn over the manuscript because there was nothing in it for RDR; and all but accuses the JKR/WB suit of lying about RDR blowing off the first three legal notices. Leaky's report concludes that "It's RDR’s position that the Lexicon did not need permission to do work on the book."

RDR posts a Lexicon FAQ on its site containing one of the earliest examples of RDR's Law (entirety preserved here):

“ Summarizing Ms. Nelson's view, one reporter wrote that Warner's "cease and desist letters constituted an attempt to open a dialogue." How could that be?

This is obviously a contradiction in terms. It reminds of a statement made by General Leslie Groves when he was asked if the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was leading to lingering deaths of tens of thousands of civilian[s].

”
— {{{source}}}
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The Saga Continues in these Wank Reports

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The Trial of the Incredible Lexicongate

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Quotes

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Wankers

  • "As the editor of the Lexicon, I get email every so often from fans asking me to publish the Lexicon in book form, so I’ve dealt with this question before. Basically, it is illegal to sell a book like that. Jo has reserved all publishing rights to her intellectual property, which means that she’s the only one who may publish any book that is a guide or encyclopedia to her world. And since we’re fans and supporters of Jo, we wouldn’t do anything that would violate her rights, even if we could get away with it." - SVA in e-mail on May 15, 2005[14]
  • "The suit, filed on Halloween, was also designed to frighten the publishers and the authors." - RDR [15]
  • "More than 1,000 stories in newspapers, on wire services, television and radio have brought this David and Voldemort battle to the readers of the New York Times, MTV and the International Herald Tribune." - RDR [16]
  • "Indeed, RDR's present plan is to have its briefs composed by the cousin of RDR's owner, a solo practitioner who is not himself an intellectual property lawyer, and a man who (though he has some general idea of what RDR does), will need some time to educate himself as to the facts and issues in this particular case." - RDR's lawyer, defending the need for a delay[17]
  • "You can help us defend the rights of authors like Steve Vander Ark and readers everywhere by buying our other titles on this site or at your favorite bookstore. We also welcome contributions to the RDR Books Lexicon Defense Fund. All contributors will receive a free autographed book from RDR, ideal for Christmas giving." - RDR [18]
  • "Can the Librarian sue Rowling if she publishes a Lexicon that contains all of the information he diligently compiled over ten years? I have not the slightest doubt that he spent more time putting his HPL together than it took the Rowling to write the books!" - a really stupid person in the Salon comments section[19]
  • "Thank you for your support of the Harry Potter Lexicon, perhaps the most famous yet to be published book in children's publishing today." - RDR [20]
  • "From the outset of this case, Ms. Rowling has insisted that: (1) she intends to publish a "Harry Potter encyclopedia" or "companion guide" at some unidentified time in the future, and (2) defendant's Lexicon should be suppressed to prevent it from competing with that guide. In order to test the merit's of plaintiff's claim, defendant has asked for copies of any preparatory materials that Ms. Rowling has drafted or authorized to be drafted, including notes, outlines, proposals, marketing proposals etc." - David S. Hammer, RDR's attorney [21]
  • "Hello world!
    January 26th, 2008
    Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!" - RDR's blog[22] as of February 18, 2008, showing another facet of their general incompetence
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Wankas

  • "Things are slowing down now. Barring a pseuicide, I have high hopes that this could be the last entry." - Cleolinda, in Wank Report IV
  • "Dear RDR: My Cousin Vinnie was a movie. It was not real. Best, PJ" - pyratejenni [23]
  • "I am 49 years old and have proved myself to be a lot more than just some teenaged fan with a website.
    Yes. They would be smart enough not to do this." white_serpent's response to SVA [24]
  • "Wow, those emails are awkward. Dear England, I want to move to you. Plz tell J.K. Rowling to give me a job. I iz good editor. I will now namedrop Fiddy, Rowling's personal assistant. I KNOW HER. I HAVE HER EMAIL. Presumptuously yours - Steve" - shallow_kid [25]
  • "This timeline blahblahblah is the original work of Mr. Vander Ark and his elite team of academic scholars, literary critics and reference librarians"
"Together they fight crime?" - miss_eponine [26]
"We know them by their secret identities as fanfic writers, first-year psych majors, and sockpuppets." - mmanurere [27]
"Six years ago / In 2002, an elite team of academic scholars, literary critics and reference librarians were sent to prison by a federal court for a timeline they created. These men and women promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Los Angeles underground. Today, still wanted by the government, they survive as soldiers of literacy. If you have a problem, if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire... The SVA-Team." - major_dallas [28]
  • "It feels so weird that this whole mess is giving me warm fuzzies toward WB's lawyers." - tephra [29]
  • "Application granted in part. Plaintiffs are to provide defendants with copies of the statements contained in the publications [auralan: 'They get copies of the magazines/interviews where JKR said she was planning to write the encyclopedia'] listed in plaintiffs response to Interrogatory 3(a) (ii) by February 8, 2008. Defendant has not shown the Court that any further discovery about Ms. Rowling's notes would be helpful to Defendant's position [Judge Robert P. Patterson: 'LOL NO']." - from the 13th Wank Report
  • "Steve is like Harry Potter.
    Whiny and often wrong?" - ahiru [30]
  • "When I saw this article in the New Yorker, I was so outraged that I dropped my monocle into my brandy. And then my other monocle. And then I stroked my glorious mustache until I felt calm enough to have my pipe." - papermint [31]
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Icons

  • Pie chart icons by fuzzytowers [32]
  • Pie chart icon by dark_puck [33]
  • Icon by pikacharma on LJ [34]
  • SVA=Squib by foresthouse [35]
  • Ms. Rowling's Cannon by insanitys_place [36]
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See also

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