J.K. Rowling Vs. Steven Vander Ark
Steven Vander Ark was claimed under violating the copyrights of Harry Potter by publishing Harry Potter Lexicon. Rowling asserted that Vander Ark copied too much of her work and lead to plagiarism. However, Vander Ark was found to be guilty after the trial (CBS Interactive Inc. 2008).
According to the UK Copyright Service (2004), the creator will have the rights to be signified as the author and the rights to object to distortion of his piece of work. Thus, The Copyrights, Design and Patent Act 1988 is created to control how the materials to be utilised and interpretation is in connection to the independent creation instead of the creation’s idea (The UK Copyright Service 2004). In this situation, who have the rights to own the piece of work?
Based on CBS Interactive Inc. (2008), Harry Potter Lexicon by Vander Ark is nothing more than a rearrangement of Rowling’s Horry Potter, as only little research has been done by him.
Thus, fair use principle is significant in this case. Standford Universities Library (2004) stated that fair use is a copyright principle that enables the public to freely use portions of copyrighted materials for the intention of commentary and criticism.
However, the dispute will have to be resolved by courts or arbitration if the owners of the original piece of work disagree with the fair use interpretation (Standford Universities Libraries 2004).
In short, ethical publishing refers to the idea of work published by the original author. iParadigms (2009) sated that one should not borrow the idea from the original material and citations should only be used to support the idea. The most important is to get permission from the owner.
In this case, Vander Ark needs not to be responsible as he was in contract with RDR Books. They will defend and pay for the damage resulted from claims against him (CBS Interactive Inc. 2008).
References:
1. CBS Interactive Inc. 2008, “Harry Potter” Author Wins Copyright Claim, viewed 4 June 2009,http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/09/08/entertainment/printable4426302.shtml
2. iParadigms 2009, What is Plagiarism?, viewed 4 June 2009, http://www.plagiarism.org/plag_article_what_is_plagiarism.html
3. Standford University Libraries 2007, Copyright and Fair Use, viewed 4 June 2009, http://fairuse.stanford.edu/Copyright_and_Fair_Use_Overview/chapter9/
4. The UK Copyright Service 2004, Fact Sheet P-01: UK Copyright Law, viewed 4 June 2009, http://www.copyrightservice.co.uk/copyright/p01_uk_copyright_law
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