Dear J.K Rowling

Dear Ms. Rowling,

You, as well as my other blog readers know that I would be writing this blog post, after reading about your recent lawsuit against the guy who runs the HP Lexicon. As much as I admire you, I think my confidence in your PR skills is waning. I already know about your mediocre writing skills, yet I’m guilty of spending quite a lot of money buying hardback copies of your Harry Potter series. If that were not enough, I’m even ready to buy The Tales of Beedle the Bard, if a cheap copy’s ever published for poor people like me. But the way you keep suing people left, right and center really makes me wonder if you’ve fired your PR manager. Why would you want to do this? Are you so jobless? I guess not. You are writing another book, right? So, why not concentrate on that?

Okay! I get your point- you wanted to publish a Harry Potter lexicon! This guy, Steve Vander Ark, is/was an ardent fan of your books. He almost runs that non-profit website HP Lexicon, that even I’ve found to be very useful in discovering hidden meanings and relations between the characters and events. From what I gather, the printed copy of the lexicon, which will be sold for $24.95 is as good as a printed form of the website! When you don’t have any objections against the electronic form of the Lexicon, then why do you have a problem with the book that will be sold? The ideas are yours, the characters are yours and the story is yours. But this is definitely not the first time that an independent publisher, such as RDR books, is releasing a “guide” on a popular novel/book. From what I can understand, the Lexicon is nothing but a compilation of lots of interesting information that we often miss as casual readers. Why make such a big deal about a book that’s mostly based upon the website information anyway?

And the funniest of all is the fact you are testifying against a man, who runs a website, whose presence you have previously acknowledged on your official website. This is the same website which you have admitted to have used a couple of times yourself, to quickly “check some facts”. Now, all of a sudden, the Lexicon becomes of poor quality? Wah!

Have you become that greedy? Aren’t you already the richest woman in UK, only next to the Queen? Would a couple of several million pounds make such a big difference to the supposed donations that you were going to make? You were only planning to write it since 1998. There is no book! So, there is no case!

You are basing your case on the argument that you wanted to write a Lexicon and since the characters are fictitious, nobody will understand the background better than you! All right. I understand that. But who says that there can only be one Lexicon? You can publish yours too. People will buy that too, I’m sure. If the quality of this Lexicon is mediocre, then it shouldn’t bother you anyway! Just because someone is publishing a guide sort of thing based on your characters, I don’t see how exactly your lawsuit is justifiable.

I haven’t forgotten about the lawsuit against some poor Durga Puja organizers in Calcutta. Anybody who lives/has lived in Calcutta can tell you that with the amount of money that these Puja societies can spend, the Hogwarts Caste-styled Puja pandal wouldn’t have been even 20% as grand as the Castle shown in the movies. So, why bother? What will you get out of an injunction, except for the wrath of lots of fans (including me) and probably some paltry monetary damage, which you can do without?

Think about all the books that you’ve sold thanks to the amazing marketing and media attention that they’ve received. Why do you choose to fall downhill in this manner? MTV published a good article enumerating several amazing points that highlight the loophole in this case. Having more knowledge of law compared to an average person, I have reason to believe that they are quite correct.

While the entire world waits to see what happens to this case, I hope continue to squirm in your seat and find it difficult to get your “creativity juices” to flow. I, for one, won’t bother buying another book of yours. Like the defense lawyer mentioned in the hearing-”Ms. Rowling is trying to exert a bit of the dark arts” here.

Sincerely,

An ex-Harry Potter fan.