Rapoport of RDR Books Speak of Lawsuit

Throughout the trial, the judge urged the two sides to settle the case rather than force him to rule in what he described as a "murky" area of the law. Rowling seemed willing to compromise on the witness stand, saying, "I never ever once wanted to stop Mr. Vander Ark from doing his own guide, never ever. Do your book, but, please, change it so it does not take as much of my work."

Rapoport, though, had a much different reaction to Rowling's apparent peace offering. "That opportunity was never presented to us," he said, his eyes flashing with anger. "The only thing they said [in the lawyer letters and pretrial discussions] was: 'Will you stop the book?' "

he publisher did not know of Vander Ark's Lexicon Web site until he saw a newspaper profile of the Webmaster last July. A month later, Vander Ark agreed to put together a print version with the help of three of the site's other editors. The plan was to print 10,000 copies.

"I couldn't understand why this book hadn't been published yet," he said. After all, Rowling herself had endorsed the Web site in 2004, giving it an award as "a great site" which, while writing, she occasionally used to check facts from her earlier books. Little did Rapoport envision that, at the trial, Rowling would dismiss the manuscript of the printed Lexicon as "sloppy."

Nonetheless, the publisher said he has never been worried about the ultimate outcome. His lawyers, he said, have told him that "no court has ever ruled that the writer of a fictional work is the only person who can write about that book."

Read the entire article here ( http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/chi-publisher-potter_bdmay04,0,4636217.story ).

Thanks to MuggleNet ( http://mugglenet.com/ ).