And so it has come to this. The hit novel in Russia -- the country that gave the world Dostoyevski and Tolstoi -- is a Harry Potter knockoff. Apparently wanna-be Potters are popping up all over the world: in China, India and even Belarus, where "you'll find Porri Gatter and the Stone Philosopher. In something of a departure, Harry's Belarussian clone wields a grenade launcher and re-fights the White Russian wars." You'd think the European continent would be a little less snotty about the Yanks and Brits, considering they can't come up with any popular culture of their own anymore.
Posted by mesh at June 28, 2003 07:38 PM | TrackBackGive them time. The writers will arise.
Posted by: Mike Hardie at June 28, 2003 10:41 PMHarry Potter books are the original and the best. I wouldn't read any shit that makes fun of it like the tanya grotter series. I support JK Rowling's case 100% and I hope she wins. Honestly, if people like Dmitry yemets made a parody of her books and then received profits from stealing JK's original ideas, then he or she should pay for the consequences. Best of luck to JK and her lawyers on this case.
Posted by: Nick at October 12, 2003 12:25 PMHarry Potter books are the original and the best. I wouldn't read any shit that makes fun of it like the tanya grotter series. I support JK Rowling's case 100% and I hope she wins. Honestly, if people like Dmitry yemets made a parody of her books and then received profits from stealing JK's original ideas, then he or she should pay for the consequences. Best of luck to JK and her lawyers on this case.
Posted by: Nick at October 12, 2003 12:26 PM...on the Barry Gib Talk Show! We're talkin' 'bout harry chests, we're talkin' 'bout gold medallions.
Posted by: JosiahQ at October 13, 2003 08:57 AMHonestly I like the Tanya Grotter books more than
Harry Potter because they`re generally more interesting .I mean if you haven`t read them (I have because I happen to be a Russian) you can`t say they are parodies because they are not! I think that the only book that`s anything like Harry Potter is the first one ( Tanya Grotter and the magic Double Bass).
Tanya is MUCH better than Harry
Posted by: Jaina at February 7, 2004 02:09 PMWell, J.K. Rowling has won her case. It has been PROVEN That Tanya is a copy off Harry. I don't understand why others are copying off others.
Posted by: Anonymous at April 24, 2004 07:48 PMIt is very cheerful book, but she{it} can be not clear to foreigners, she{it} is closer to the Russian person, the first book is a parody, the second something too is from Harry, but the others absolute does not converge in any way with Potter
Posted by: munya at July 12, 2004 09:08 AMFirst book may be a knok-off but next aren't for sure
Posted by: Jaina at August 3, 2004 12:29 PMEurh - I, not being Russian, haven't read this "Tanya Grotter", but when I heard about it on BBC Ceefax teletext, I think, I was rather interested... I'd still like to read this Russian book! I heard that it was inspired by Potter but was more linked to Russian fairytales, AND it DOES feature a *girl* central character, which is more progressive and feminist than Rowling has to date managed!!
As an aspiring writer myself, I must say that I wouldn't mind this sort of thing, if I invented my own fairy tale and someone parodied it... It is MEAN-MINDED of people like Warner etc to sue... I mean, LOOK at the amount of parodies Lord of the Rings, etc, has received.... There was one written when Tolkien grew popular in the Sixties, that featured a dragon on roller skates! There's a modern one now. Nobody sues THEM... Why should JK be treated any different because she's a) alive and b) a billionaire? I admire her rags-to-riches rise, but anyone can let the "bubbles rise to their head", as my mother used to say!
Anyway, it seems to me that the people on this thread - and Warner, and the court they (bought) their verdict in, don't truly understand copyright law! I recently read this thing widely circulated on the Internet by some big-ass lawyer called "Top Fallacies about
Copyright" or something to that effect - people will know what I mean, because lots of sites link to it - and basically, IT stated that "fan fiction" and fan sites featuring it were basically illegal - but encouraged by the companies who own the fiction! You're not allowed to copy ANY ideas - the exceptions ARE, wait for it!!!!
a) Titles, of books.... It's possible to PATENT product titles, but anyone trying to do the same with books will have a hard slog... Anyone can call their book by the same title as something else. The only exception MIGHT be when it comes to characters' names, esp. made-up names, but as for a common English surname like "Potter"... Didn't work for that Nancy Stouffer woman, when she tried suing Rowling because she'd previously had published a book about "Larry Potter"!!! Now WHY was that - because her book wasn't so famous, and because it hadn't been taken up by Hollywood! AAH!!
Right! Second exception! According to this big-ass American lawyer who posts his article on copyright all around the net - it's PARODY!! You can't be prosecuted if your aim is to parody something else - eg, The Lord of the Rings parodies, old and new, because that's all part of Fair Comment. It's all covered under the Geneva copyright and the American copyright legislation. (Just let me find that article wherever I saved it on my computer!!)
This second point did however resolve one question which had been niggling on my mind for quite some time. In the early 90s, a rather filthy comic strip parody of the famous Star Trek characters was released - and made the papers. It was called "Stark Trek" and according to newspaper reports, featured the actual original Star Trek characters (whether just their appearances or their names as well I'm not sure) and it had things like one of the characters raping somebody and Spock and Kirk getting it on and stuff like that. Charming I'm sure the general reader will agree!
Bit - although this filth made the papers, nobody to my knowledge, Paramount or anybody, sued the New Jersey company who published this "graphic novel"
Now, after reading that article on copyright, I know why.
It would seem to me that nobody - when it comes to Rowling etc - including the judges, knows the law.
I would certainly assume that "Tanya Grotter and the Magic Double Bass" comes under the heading of parody, whatever the following books cover.
Someone tell me where to get English translations (or even a German translation would do - but I can't manage Russian!) of the Tanya Grotter books, and I will evaluate them as an independent person, writer and critic. I should like the chance to do that. I would welcome the look into another culture that it would afford me. I have Slavic links (my father was Czech) and have read a lot of traditional Russian fairytales in German which I purchased in the old GDR.
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