Legal Research

Librarian Goes Head To Head With Rowling - Everybody Cries

By Simon Fodden

The New York Times has a story on the copyright infringement lawsuit by J.K. Rowling against the proposed publisher of a Harry Potter Lexicon, created by Steven Jan Vander Ark, a librarian. Unable to resist some of the stereotypes associated with librarians (e.g. the very opening line: “Shhh! The librarian at the heart of…”), the Times reports that Rowling got emotional enough to cry during testimony Monday, and Vander Ark wept yesterday.

And in case you’re interested, it comes from the horse’s mouth that the “unlocking spell” Alohomora! does not come from Aloha, as Vander Ark had surmised, but rather an unidentified “West African dialect.” Which is to say, I should have thought, a West African language.

If Vander Ark is not allowed to publish his lexicon, he should be able to get a nice contract to do a book about the trial.

Full post as published by Slaw.ca on April 16, 2008 (boomark / email).