J.K. Rowling tells court her 'creativity is stifled' by lawsuit

by Rob Peters | April 14, 2008 at 04:34 pm

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J.K. Rowling says her lawsuit against a man trying to print an unofficial Harry Potter encyclopedia is giving her writer's block. The Harry Potter mastermind said in court her distress isn't about the money, but rather, the "wholesale theft" of 20 years' work.

Guess she never bought into the old saying that imitation is the best form of flattery.

An emotional J.K. Rowling said on Monday she had stopped working on a new novel because her creativity was stifled by a fan's bid to print an unofficial encyclopaedic companion to her Harry Potter series.

The 42-year-old British author and Warner Bros. are suing independent U.S. publisher RDR Books, which plans to publish "The Harry Potter Lexicon," a 400-page reference book written by Steve Vander Ark and based on his popular fan Web site (www.hp-lexicon.org).

Rowling told a New York court on Monday that the demands of the case had caused her to halt work on a new novel. The author, who wrote seven novels about the boy wizard, said the stress has "decimated my creative work over the past month."

NEW YORK - J.K. Rowling testified before a packed courtroom in a lawsuit to block publication of a Harry Potter lexicon, telling a judge that the book amounts to a "wholesale theft" of nearly 20 years of her hard work.

"We all know I've made enough money. That's absolutely not why I'm here," Rowling told the judge in U.S. District Court.

The British author sued Michigan-based RDR Books last year to stop publication of Steven Vander Ark's "Harry Potter Lexicon," claiming copyright infringement. Vander Ark runs the popular Harry Potter Lexicon Web site, and RDR wants to publish a print version of the site and charge $24.95.