Original story This may not seem like much, but fundamentally it is the same issue as DRM and UK / EU launch dates and what happened with Lik Sang. Here you have a content owner delaying the regional release of a product in order to maximize profits and using the government to try to enforce their flawed if unfortunatly legal business model.
"It is not a young person or a fan we are talking about here -- these are organized networks that use young people," she told Reuters by telephone." WTF? That's EXACTLY what it is. Or has Reuters not managed, in all of their wisdom, to observe the lengths HP fans will go to in order to spread the love? I seem to remember someone translating the English version of book six into an African dialect or something, although the person in question wasn't stupid enough to release it online.
...so the "organized" is what? something like myspace? and the "network" is the - uhm - interNET? /sarcasm Seriously though, I can understand why they would want to stop unofficial translations for reasons other than money and copyright issues (those two are probably right up there though). How thoroughly would the translation be checked? (sounds rather hastily done from the article) What if the translation is poorly done or the story is misinterpreted or changed in the translation?
Harry Potter is a young boy wizard, he and his friends go on magical adventures, it's all a pile of pish, some of them die, THE END. There, I've just translated it to "Non Harry Potter Fan" Language.
What, wanting the money she rightfully earns makes her a bitch? **** off out of our capitalist society please untill you learn the basic principles. OTOH, this is retarded and the kid did something great. Just another reason to pirate/rip/copy/borrow/lend to the end of bringing down the industry imo.
Seriously though, how many people are going to read a fan translation on the internet? I'm sure the book will still sell amazingly well when the official translation is released.
Exactly Specofdust, do you not realise that what this kid does will be of absoloutly NO consequence to JK, there is no way in hell that his actions would cause so much as a blip on her financial radar - the SEVENTH book sold 11 million copies in the first 24 hours, I seriously doubt that this kid will cause as many as 100 people to not buy it. No doubt less than 0.0001% of her income, less than she would get from 1 days worth of interest. And yet she is pressing charges and ruining his life. gg.
It doesn't matter that the kid makes no impact upon her profits. I just strongly reject your attitude of "oh that person has enough money, they don't deserve to make any more from their work".
So, if I came to you and said "well you've earned £20,000 this year, you don't need any more money untill next year" - you'd be fine with that? Why do you get to judge the profits someone should make from their product? Just because someone has been succusfull and worked hard doesn't mean you have the right to decide them unworthy of their profits once they get to a level you consider "rich". I'm tired of the standard anti-rich crap that most people exhibit.
I've already made an ass of myself, so I guess it doesn't matter if I tell you that my parents are wealthy. And I don't think I deserve what I have.
Have you completely missed the story woof? So no-one's pressing any charges yet. Even if you forget that, how do we know it isn't the publishing company who would be behind any charges/formal lawsuit? Don't forget that they make nearly, if not more money than Rowling, and unlike her (who'll have more than enough money to last 10 lifetimes by now), they're a company who always look to preserve their profits.
You're right, you don't. You didn't earn that money, so you don't deserve it. You are lucky. Most children in the west are lucky. Your parents OTOH do deserve the money they earned, whether that be £12k a year or £120.
No, it's the same issue as a popular website like Bit-Tech producing an article or product review and somebody putting up a translated copy on their own site but surrounded by their own advertising. They might claim it's a public service; others might be less kind.
Whew, thanks, you just saved me a whole bunch of time. (Now I can go back to trying to make time to read "The Children of Hurin" by Tolkien.)
Uber, now i don't have to waste my time with the book... oh wait... i wasn't going to... I can see the point Wolf82 is trying to make, she has made a stupid amount of money, from books, that imho, don't deserve the credit and "fame" they are getting. Fell free to flame me on that subject if you want to, but i feel authors like Terry Pratchett who has spent his life writing around 30 or 40 books, and has made, ofc a fair bit of money from them, deserve what they have, because they have worked hard (not saying JK hasn't), and havn't had their work so over publicized that there is no escape from them. I have nothing against JK, and i congratulate her for her success, but as i have said, i really don't think she has warrented such a large amount. As Wolf82, at least doesn't seem aware, she has given substancial amounts of her "earnings" to various charities. However, if she presses charges for something so unbeliably minor, lets face it, most people will still purchase the book for collections and such, any and all respect i may have for her will disapear, he does deserve a slap on the wrist, yes, but more for getting caught than anything.
