InsaneJournal

Harry Potter and the End of the Fucking World
As if fandom hasn't seen enough hell this year in the forms of Fanlib & Strikethrough . . .

So there's this massive Harry Potter Lexicon wank going down now. One Steve Vander Ark, the maintainer of the Harry Potter Lexicon, once wanted to be a part of Rowling's planned HP encyclopedia if not write one of his own. JKR turned him down. SVA got his panties in a twist and decided to publish his own encyclopedia anyway, made up of material from the Lexicon's website--which is composed mainly of quotes & lists from the HP books (that he has no legal right to publish for profit) and critical essays that are not his (which he has no legal right to publish for profit). JKR turned that down too. SVA and his moronic publisher RDR Books decided to try to publish anyway. Cue massive wank to crush all other wanks, complete with RDR's refusal to hand over a copy of the book to Rowling/WB, RDR's uncooperative stance towards the entire proceedings (including but not limited to them telling the WB that if they wanted to see the book, go look at the website--which backfired just a little bit), the hiring-on of RDR Books's owner's cousin as an intellectual property lawyer even though he had no background in intellectual property law (NO. SERIOUSLY.), and such heavy-duty self-righteous flailings that it makes my brain hurt.

Fandom_wank brings it in extremely long-winded chronological order: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7


Overall? As a fandom member, I'm scared. This is the push that might force everyday authors to crack down on fanworks. How do they know that some jackass with an entitlement complex isn't gonna turn around, create a website, and decide this makes them a partial owner of the author's work? Yeah, Rowling won't lose a meal or miss a rent payment if this book goes to print. Another author might. Another author might not have the time and ample legal funds to fight a case like this. And some might not have the patience or mettle to deal with the kind of flak Rowling's getting from this; from the idiots who try to say her work is in the public domain to the people who call her greedy and a bitch and a lesbian for defending her intellectual property. It'd be far easier to just shut things down before a problematic person or group could start getting ideas.

This means fansites. This means fanfics. This means everything.

Which brings me to the next point--as an aspiring professional author, I'm even more scared. Am I gonna have to worry about cracking down on fan sites for fear that some jackass is gonna think that a list of quotes, a plot summary or two, and some essays he didn't even write warrants enough work that he should get a payout? Or that the same jackass will get up in front of a crowd and tell them that since they've contributed so much to the series (by being fans and all) that it no longer belongs to me? ("Jo has quit. She is done. We're taking over now." [@ 3:12]) I like fandom. I like fandom a lot. I think it's a great place to grow as a writer. But I don't want to have to worry.