Update: Does anyone have a good edition of the James Potter Series?

[alansplace]

I saw an old thread with this name. I believe that it died out because it was moderated as having links to copyright-infringing material, which appeared to quash it. I found this info in wikipedia:

In November 2007, The Scotsman reported that Rowling had threatened legal action against American computer programmer G. Norman Lippert for allegedly violating her intellectual property rights by producing and publishing the online novel, James Potter and the Hall of Elders' Crossing, an unofficial and unauthorised continuation of the Harry Potter series. Written as a fan fiction project for Lippert's wife and sons, the novel is set eighteen years after the end of the last official installment in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, and describes the adventures of Harry Potter's son, James Potter, during his first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. A specialist in intellectual property law at Strathclyde University commented that, "If an insubstantial character from a novel is taken and built up by another author in a new story, that can be a defence against copyright infringements." However, after Lippert offered Rowling an advance copy of the novel, Rowling dismissed her threat and said she supported the novel and any others like it. Lippert subsequently produced a sequel, James Potter and the Curse of the Gatekeeper. After the novel first appeared online in early November 2007, some Harry Potter fans on the Internet initially speculated that the site might be part of an elaborate viral marketing campaign for an official continuation or spinoff of Harry Potter, one either written or at least approved by Rowling herself. On November 9, 2007, Rowling's agent Neil Blair denied that Rowling was in any way involved with the purported project, and Warner Bros., the studio which owns the rights to the Harry Potter film series, denied that the novel was in any way connected to the official Harry Potter.

Which made me wonder if it supported the inclusion of this subject and the links to the material being discussed or not. And of course if info obtained from wiki is considered to be good enough to support a position to the administrators here.

[MmavisO]

As the party guilty of posting the link to Lippert's website in the original thread, and having been duly chastised, I believe that the official stance is that it doesn't matter what proof is presented that fanfic was written and is being distributed with the permission or even blessing of the original author, it is still considered to be plagiarism, and therefore links are not allowed.

However, it is permitted to suggest that one Google G. Norman Lippert, James Potter, etc.

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by MmavisO

As the party guilty of posting the link to Lippert's website in the original thread, and having been duly chastised, I believe that the official stance is that it doesn't matter what proof is presented that fanfic was written and is being distributed with the permission or even blessing of the original author, it is still considered to be plagiarism, and therefore links are not allowed.

However, it is permitted to suggest that one Google G. Norman Lippert, James Potter, etc.

I'd like to hear a reading from Harry on this though, wouldn't you as well? The PDF offered on Goodreads doesn't convert too well in my attempts, mostly because of the double letter syndrome (of some PDFs) that for some reason aren't helped by Calibre's 'keep ligatures' setting. And there are a few other issues as well. The EPUB offered on Goodreads seems to simply be that same PDF converted to EPUB and not fixed or edited at all after the conversion. But the author posted this almost a month ago:

G. Norman Lippert posted on Oct 27, 2011 10:57am
eBook versions of the James Potter books are indeed on the way. Look for them here on goodreads and at the main website.....[address removed].....beginning on December first.

and it makes me wonder if useful EPUBs are just around the corner...or NOT

[MmavisO]

Maybe it's because I was on the receiving end, but I thought Harry made himself quite clear, that if the most minor character in the least-important book in a long series is the hero of a short article of fanfic, then it is plagiarism, and the only way to post a link here would be to post the link to the original author's site, and mention that there is a link to the fanfic to be found there (assuming that was the case). He didn't say it like that, but it was clear enough to me. But like I said, maybe it was because I was on the receiving end. But if there is any kind of "wiggle room" in the no plagiarism rule, I would certainly like to know because I'm now quite leery of posting links. At the time, I didn't cite the wiki article, but there were several other well-supported citations provided by me and others for the fact that Rowling has withdrawn any objections to Lippert's work and that Lippert gives full props to Rowling on his site and in the forwards of each book. When I was in college, the types of citations provided would have been enough for the most hard-nosed professor I ever had, but since he isn't a mod here, that doesn't apply, I guess.

Even so, I hope Lippert does come out with usable epubs soon. I got my pdf from Lippert's site, but I haven't tried converting it because I lack the time/motivation to work with it.

[estelle58]

I would love to have epubs of the series, I have the PDFs but I lack the expertise to convert them

[MmavisO]

Originally Posted by estelle58

I would love to have epubs of the series, I have the PDFs but I lack the expertise to convert them

That's my problem, too. It would take far more time than I have to figure out how to do it.

[Dazrin]

There is a link to some PRC formats on Amazon's forum...easy to convert in Calibre...

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by Dazrin

There is a link to some PRC formats on Amazon's forum...easy to convert in Calibre...

I'll check it out.

[carpetmojo]

Following advice from Moderators, I have withdrawn this post, and apologise if anyone was offended by it.
I did not realise that posts had to be quite so closely tailored to classification, or that my opinion of the James Potter series should not have been entered in this section.

[alansplace]

One person's rubbish is another person's treasure

[carpetmojo]

Originally Posted by alansplace

One person's rubbish is another person's treasure

Very true.............in comparison to the original, shall we say.

Allegedly.

[MmavisO]

Whether trash or treasure is certainly in the eye of the reader.

[frostschutz]

So how is this different from any other (thousands) HP fanfics? Why is there suddenly a legal issue with this one in particular?

I've read a couple of HP fanfics in the past (when I was still waiting for book 5+ to come out) and liked some of them (Psychic Serpent in particular). But with the HP series complete and so many indie books available now, pursuing any kind of fanfic seems to be a waste of time to me.

I love Harry Potter but seven books are more than enough and other stories are great too...

[alansplace]

The author just added MOBIs and EPUBSs to the series website just google james potter series to find the site.

[tecweston]

Originally Posted by alansplace

The author just added MOBIs and EPUBSs to the series website just google james potter series to find the site.

Thanks. I'll give the first chapters a read, see if it's worth continuing.