Row delays Harry Potter lexicon

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A publisher has agreed to delay the release of a Harry Potter encyclopaedia after being sued by author JK Rowling.

Publisher Roger Rapoport said the book will not be published until a judge rules on whether it violates Rowling's intellectual property rights.

A judge in New York has issued an order barring completion, distribution, marketing or advance sales of the book until further notice.

Written by Steve Vander Ark, it was scheduled for release on 28 November.

Entitled Harry Potter Lexicon, it is based on material from an internet fan site of the same name.

Mr Rapoport, whose company is based in Michigan, said he had given a copy of the Lexicon to Warner Bros lawyers - who hold the copyright to the Harry Potter books - in the hope that they would read it and decide that it did not violate copyright.

"I think they should drop it. I'm hopeful that they will," he said.

'Massively disappointed'

Rowling's lawsuit, filed on 31 October, sought an injunction blocking publication of the book on the grounds that it would borrow too heavily from her work and spoil plans to eventually publish her own encyclopaedia of Harry Potter's world.

Rowling had supported the Lexicon website, but she and Warner Bros said they saw a difference between fans publishing information for free on the internet, and selling it in the form of a book.

Rowling said she took "no pleasure" in preventing the Lexicon's publication.

"On the contrary, I feel massively disappointed that this matter had to come to court at all," she said.

"Given my past good relations with the Lexicon fan site, I can only feel sad and disillusioned that this is where we have ended up."