Rowling Rules: Judge Halts Harry Potter Lexicon

The moral of this story: Don’t mess with J.K. Rowling. The wizardly writer just whipped out one heck of an expelliarmus spell on the folks behind The Harry Potter Lexicon.

A federal judge in New York today put the kibosh on the planned publication of a contentious book version of the popular (now defunct) fansite, ruling it violates Rowling’s creations.

U.S. District Judge Robert Patterson Jr. dismissed defense arguments that the Lexion was protected under fair-use provisions of copyright law.

Rowling and Warner Bros. teamed up last October to sue author Steven Vander Ark and RDR Books over the planned 400-page, $25 Lexicon. During testimony in April, an emontional Rowling took the stand and blasted the book as amounting to “wholesale theft of 17 years of my hard work” and “decimating” her livelihood by forcing her to take a break from writing her latest novel to focus on the legal battle.

- from ET