Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Will the Real Harry Potter Please Stand Up?

So, apparently there once lived a man named Harry Potter.
"What?" you ask? You already knew that? No you didn't. You are lying. I'm not talking about the fluffy-haired boy who is all uber-hot and getting freak nasty with You-Know-Who. I'm talking about a man (still British) whose father built half of the city of Middlesbrough. I'm talking about a man who lived 130 years ago. I'm talking about this guy.

Pretty interesting, eh? I wonder if Rowling pays his descendants royalties. I wouldn't. The dirty beggars...

In related news, here is an article about the Rowling/WB lawsuit against the guys making the HP Lexicon. What intrigued me most was the end sentence, where the concern is whether or not the HP community will still be accepting of Vander Ark. I don't really know where I stand on this one, because I can't see why he shouldn't be allowed to make this book, but I can definitely understand Rowling's desire to maintain rights to her creative property. I guess the issue is whether or not this will really fall under that umbrella though. Is a lexicon considered creative property? I don't personally feel like it should be. Let this guy write his book. Rowling will write hers and it will outsell this guy's hands down, no contest, no problem. Scott Card's remarks are poignant.

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