Orson Scott Card Blasts J.K. Rowling's Lawsuit

[Clark Kent]

Orson Scott Card Blasts J.K. Rowling's Lawsuit
By Silent Bob - Fri, 02 May 2008 00:21:46 GMT
Originally Posted at: Dead Parrot Tavern
====================

Orson Scott Card Blasts J.K. Rowling's Lawsuit

Posted by timothy on Thursday May 01, @02:52PM
from the funnier-than-I-thought-he'd-be dept.

Wanker writes "In the wake of a lawsuit by J.K. Rowling against the author of a Harry Potter encyclopedia, the Greensboro Rhino Times has an article by Orson Scott Card blasting J.K. Rowling for 'letting herself be talked into being outraged over a perfectly normal publishing activity.' Orson Scott Card has hit the nail on the head. He understands that authors re-use each others' ideas all the time, and certainly Ender's Game gets its share of re-use. Did Rowling's success go to her head?" Card lays out (something like tongue-in-cheek) some of the similarities between the story in Ender's Game and in the Potter series: "A young kid growing up in an oppressive family situation suddenly learns that he is one of a special class of children with special abilities, who are to be educated in a remote training facility where student life is dominated by an intense game played by teams flying in midair, at which this kid turns out to be exceptionally talented and a natural leader." (And that's just to get started.)

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[MA-Caver]

I'd have to side with Card on this one. She's made her billions, why is she concerned someone else will muck the HP world she created all up? She can simply have "authorized" versions of this or that book/novel/short-story.
How much money does any one person need?

 

[OnlyAnEgg]

Agreed. Ever since this surfaced, I thought she was going way over the top in her response.

 

[theletch1]

The more ya got, the more ya want.

 

[Sukerkin]

Something to bear in mind is that she came from a very poor background and vaulted into money on the strength of an idea.

It is natural for her to be very protective of that idea, even when there is no financial need to do so, especially if that is what her blood-sucking leeches ... sorry, I meant lawyers there obviously ... urge her to do.

Bad PR I agree but an understandable human reaction.

 

[mrhnau]

I'd have to side with Card on this one. She's made her billions, why is she concerned someone else will muck the HP world she created all up? She can simply have "authorized" versions of this or that book/novel/short-story.
How much money does any one person need?

We already have condemned "Big Oil"... what is this? "Big Books"? We can take from them because they already have enough? Isn't that called stealing?

Something to bear in mind is that she came from a very poor background and vaulted into money on the strength of an idea.

It is natural for her to be very protective of that idea, even when there is no financial need to do so, especially if that is what her blood-sucking leeches ... sorry, I meant lawyers there obviously ... urge her to do.

Bad PR I agree but an understandable human reaction.

Absolutely.

 

[Empty Hands]

It may be more complicated than simple greed. I can't remember the details or if they apply here, but certain intellectual properties can be lost if they are not defended against encroachment, at least in the US. H.P. has made Rowling a billionaire, she would hate to lose that property because she allowed some small timers to use the property as well.

Just something to keep in mind.

 

[mrhnau]

George Lucas holds pretty tight reigns over the Star Wars franchise. There are a lot of authors writing books, but they must be approved before publication, which IMHO is the way to do it. Suppose Lucas one day wanted to do movies in the future world of Star Wars. The books would have put him in a tight corner if they could just write anything they wanted...

 

[ChingChuan]

It may be more complicated than simple greed.

Also, I remember that there seemed to be a misunderstanding - Steve said that they had tried contacting Warner Bros about the book and JKR said that they didn't do it...

But, well, I don't really care who wins, but I am extremely appalled by the fandom response... I don't know whether you visit Harry Potter websites, but the things said about Steve make me cringe...

 

[Tez3]

Orson Scott Card Blasts J.K. Rowling's Lawsuit
By Silent Bob - Fri, 02 May 2008 00:21:46 GMT
Originally Posted at: Dead Parrot Tavern
====================

Orson Scott Card Blasts J.K. Rowling's Lawsuit

Posted by timothy on Thursday May 01, @02:52PM
from the funnier-than-I-thought-he'd-be dept.

Wanker writes "In the wake of a lawsuit by J.K. Rowling against the author of a Harry Potter encyclopedia, the Greensboro Rhino Times has an article by Orson Scott Card blasting J.K. Rowling for 'letting herself be talked into being outraged over a perfectly normal publishing activity.' Orson Scott Card has hit the nail on the head. He understands that authors re-use each others' ideas all the time, and certainly Ender's Game gets its share of re-use. Did Rowling's success go to her head?" Card lays out (something like tongue-in-cheek) some of the similarities between the story in Ender's Game and in the Potter series: "A young kid growing up in an oppressive family situation suddenly learns that he is one of a special class of children with special abilities, who are to be educated in a remote training facility where student life is dominated by an intense game played by teams flying in midair, at which this kid turns out to be exceptionally talented and a natural leader." (And that's just to get started.)

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The Dead Parrot Tavern - The Dead Parrot Tavern is a community forum for the discussion of the golden age of piracy, pirate fests, ren faires, science fiction, fantasy and horror with news, info, calendars of events, message boards, and more! We welcome all to our shores!

Er, who writes? Is that a name or a description? either it's rude! :xtrmshock

:lol:

 

[Kacey]

It may be more complicated than simple greed. I can't remember the details or if they apply here, but certain intellectual properties can be lost if they are not defended against encroachment, at least in the US. H.P. has made Rowling a billionaire, she would hate to lose that property because she allowed some small timers to use the property as well.

Just something to keep in mind.

This is part of it. Another part is that J.K. Rowling spent a very long time refusing to license out the series at all, because she wanted to retain creative control over the books and characters therein - so the question then becomes, is this about the money, or is it about retaining that control? She has not allowed other authors to write in her universe, as some other authors have, and that decision needs to be hers and no one else's.

 

[jks9199]

George Lucas holds pretty tight reigns over the Star Wars franchise. There are a lot of authors writing books, but they must be approved before publication, which IMHO is the way to do it. Suppose Lucas one day wanted to do movies in the future world of Star Wars. The books would have put him in a tight corner if they could just write anything they wanted...

It seems to have worked for Star Trek... For many years, the only books and Trek fiction were fan written, and rarely did Gene Roddenberry offer any input...

I think that authors only have so much control over the characters, once the books are written. I can understand the desire to wield control, simply to assure that people don't have your character do something that makes no sense, or would be completely out of character (I'm sure many authors are just thrilled with some of the erotic fan-fiction done about there characters, for example.)

But this isn't even about someone using Rowling's characters. The guy wrote an encyclopedia collecting his knowledge of her work. If anything, it's likely to INCREASE sales for her!

I'm not sympathetic.

 

[punisher73]

I'll have to try and find it, but I remember when the her books first came out there was an author that was trying to sue her for infringement on her storyline saying that the main elements had come from their work and she took them.

 

[MA-Caver]

What gets me is that in the epilogue of her last HP book she lays out a 19 year later story line from the time Harry defeated his nemesis to where he and his wife are sending their kids to school. A huge gap with lots and lots of things/adventures that could happen in between.
What was the intent of that? Is she planning to write more?
If I were a (published) author I'd be letting others (with my approval like Lucas) fill in those gaps. There's a lot of imagination out there that could richly enhance the HP world that many have come to know and love.
As long as it encourages kids to read that's gotta be the big plus of it all.

 

[jks9199]

I'll have to try and find it, but I remember when the her books first came out there was an author that was trying to sue her for infringement on her storyline saying that the main elements had come from their work and she took them.

Sometimes it seems like there just aren't that many story lines...

Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks certainly contains many elements from Tolkien's The Lord of The Rings. Dwarves, elves, a mysterious magical mentor, coming of age for the hero, a journey underground with a battle at the gates, and more...

There's a lot of cross-fertilization in the science fiction/fantasy genre. Sometime it's planned and coordinated (remember Thieves World?) Sometimes it's unconscious. I remember reading a piece by Card about a story of his which he realized years later was heavily derivative of a story by Lloyd Biggle, Jr. And I'm sure there are many other examples...

Again, my biggest issue is that the book that Rowlings is targetting makes no pretense at being "original"; it's a reference to her books. If anything, it's likely to increase sales of her works to folks like me who maybe don't want to fight through all the earlier books to read the newest and understand what's going on.

 

[Sukerkin]

Caver, the purpose of laying out the 'future' in the epilogue of the last book was just to 'finish' the story for herself. She has no current intention to write any more - at least that was what she stated in the same documentary in which she sketched out the long-term fates of the main characters.

 

[exile]

Caver, the purpose of laying out the 'future' in the epilogue of the last book was just to 'finish' the story for herself. She has no current intention to write any more - at least that was what she stated in the same documentary in which she sketched out the long-term fates of the main characters.

S., do you have a link to, or any other information about, that documentary you mentioned?

 

[punisher73]

Caver, the purpose of laying out the 'future' in the epilogue of the last book was just to 'finish' the story for herself. She has no current intention to write any more - at least that was what she stated in the same documentary in which she sketched out the long-term fates of the main characters.

She has said that she will be writing an "who's who" type book. I guess as she was writing ALL of the characters had their own backgrounds and stories that she sketched out as well even if it was not in the books. This could be why she is ticked about the "unauthorized" book. She has also hinted at maybe writing an 8th book.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/li...ews.html?in_article_id=505148&in_page_id=1773

Here is a link to the author that originally tried to sue JK Rowling...

http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/bal-artslife-news-pottermar14,1,4674099.story

 

[Sukerkin]

The documentary was to be found on YouTube but it took a bit of looking and it's easy to get tangled up with an A&E documentary.

Here're the direct links to each of the five parts (be quick otherwise some may have been removed):

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Part 4:

Part 5:

 

[Bob Hubbard]

It seems to have worked for Star Trek... For many years, the only books and Trek fiction were fan written, and rarely did Gene Roddenberry offer any input...

I think that authors only have so much control over the characters, once the books are written. I can understand the desire to wield control, simply to assure that people don't have your character do something that makes no sense, or would be completely out of character (I'm sure many authors are just thrilled with some of the erotic fan-fiction done about there characters, for example.)

But this isn't even about someone using Rowling's characters. The guy wrote an encyclopedia collecting his knowledge of her work. If anything, it's likely to INCREASE sales for her!

I'm not sympathetic.

True, it worked for Trek in the early days. Now, Paramont wants total control, and fan sites have been sent "Take Down" notices. In some cases, they were infringing, but in others there was nothing more than Paramont wanted all the trek to go through them. So, the ST franchise is pretty dead from a fandom perspective today. JK's actions sound more to me of wanting all the pie to herself, forgetting that it's the fans who buy, and disgruntle fans buy less, or not at all.