The ABC special J.K. Rowling: A Year in the Life, premiering Thursday at 8 pm/ET, sheds light on the beloved Harry Potter author's world and work by chronicling the 12 months leading up to the release of the seventh, final entry in the bestselling series: Harry Potter and the Deathy Hallows.
ABC's inside look at Rowling's origins and career comes as the latest big-screen adaptation, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, is enchanting fans in theaters, conjuring up $22 million in its first night at the box office.
Elizabeth Vargas, the host of A Year in the Life, sat with TVGuide.com to share a peek at its many revelations. Among the topics covered ...
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Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling and Warner Brothers have won a copyright lawsuit that challenged the publication of an unauthorized Potter compendium.Rowling and Warners went to court earlier this year in an effort to stop the publication of Steven Vander Ark's Harry Potter Lexicon by RDR Books. The tome was to be based on a website for fans of Rowling's massively popular books.New York judge Robert Patterson ruled that the planned compendium would infringe Rowling's copyright, says the Reporter. Patterson also issued an injunction to halt the Lexicon's publication, and argued that it borrowed too much from Rowling's work to be considered acceptable for fair use.He awarded Rowling and the studio $6,750 in statutory damages."I took no pleasure at all in bringing legal action and am delighted that this issue has been resolved favorably," Rowling said. "I went to court to uphold the right of authors everywhere to protect their own original work."RDR Books, meanwhile, said was not thri...
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How much are 800 handwritten words worth? When they're in the form of an ersatz prequel to J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, nearly $50,000. On Tuesday night at a London auction house, a bid of 25,000 pounds (or $48,855) claimed someone a two-sided page on which Rowling wrote a preface to the mega-hit series of books and movies. The auction's proceeds will benefit a dyslexia charity and the writer's organization PEN. Twelve other authors and illustrators, including Nobel winner Doris Lessing and novelist Nick Hornby, offered similar short-form items for auction. Lest anyone hope that Rowling's charitible scribblings might lead to something bigger (and bound), it should be noted that the document's final 12 words were: "From the prequel I am not working on — but it was fun!" — Anna Dimond Related:• 20/20 Special Will Bewitch Harry Potter Fans• Judge Urges Rowling to Make Lawsuit Disappear
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ABC News and RDF Media Group, who recently partnered to bring 20/20 a high-rated profile of the royal family, are reteaming for a behind-the-scenes look at the life of Harry Potter auteur J.K. Rowling.An RDF crew tailed Rowling for more than a year for a piece that includes interviews, the Deathly Hallows book tour and a look at locations that inspired Potter characters and events. The 20/20 special also will offer a hint as to what's next for the beloved franchise (besides, that is, a mound of legal bills). According to the Reporter, a November sweeps airing is planned. — MWM
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Who's got an Invisibility Cloak handy? Following three days of emotional testimony, a New York judge presiding over J.K. Rowling's copyright case has urged the author to stop litigating and start settling.Judge Robert Patterson Jr. told the Harry Potter author and coplaintiff Warner Brothers that copyright infringement has a lot of gray areas in American law, and that the litigation could go on for years of appeals, according to the Reporter. "I think this case, with imagination, could be settled," he said.As previously reported, Rowling filed the suit against a publisher that plans to print the Harry Potter Lexicon, an encyclopedia compiled by Steven Vander Ark, who has a website with similar content. Vander Ark's publisher, RDR, asserts that the encyclopedia would be used for scholarly use, and would not impact Rowling's sales.If some of the publishing experts who testified at the case are any indication, the book may find plenty of readers, but probably wouldn't be making the New...
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