People: The prisoner of plagiarism
J.K. Rowling said Monday that her efforts to halt an unauthorized “Harry Potter” dictionary have been crushing her creativity.
She said she’s stopped work on a new novel because the federal lawsuit has “decimated my creative work over the last month.”
Rowling is suing RDR Books to stop publication of the “Harry Potter Lexicon,” saying her copyrights are being violated.
“This book constitutes wholesale theft of 17 years of my hard work,” she testified Monday in a New York courtroom.
RDR’s lawyer calls it a legal effort “to organize and discuss the complicated and very elaborate world of Harry Potter.”
Rowling says she’s a fan of the Harry Potter Lexicon Web site run by Steven Vander Ark, but she draws the line when it comes to publishing the book and charging $24.95.
She also says it fails to include any of the commentary and discussion that enrich the Web site and calls it “nothing more than a rearrangement” of her own material.
Rowling said she’s started work on her own encyclopedia but does not expect to complete it for two to three years.
Full house, yes – order, no
On the celebrity baby beat, it’s a boy for Aussie actress Cate Blanchett – her third son – and girls for former child star Jodie Sweetin (“Full House”) and actress Elisabeth Rohm (“Law & Order”).
New bid for happiness
Ivana Trump is hitched – again.
The ex-wife of real estate mogul Donald Trump tied the knot Saturday evening with Italian entrepreneur Rossano Rubicondi at Mar-a-Lago, The Donald’s opulent seaside mansion in Palm Beach.
Trump, whom she divorced in 1990, attended, as did their children.
Un-ache her heart
Toni Braxton, briefly hospitalized last week for chest pain, won’t return to the stage on the Las Vegas Strip until at least next month.
The cause of Braxton’s pain hasn’t been made public, though she has been treated for pericarditis, a viral inflammation of the heart.
Oops, she did it again
Britney Spears was involved in a minor traffic accident late Saturday, but no one was injured and no vehicles were damaged.
Spears was in stop-and-go traffic on the Ventura Freeway when her 2008 Mercedes struck a 2006 Nissan stopped in front of her.
A hit-and-run charge from an August 2007 parking lot crash was dismissed after she paid an undisclosed amount to the car’s owner.
Oops, let’s try that again
Finally, The Associated Press is backing off from last week’s report that “How I Met Your Mother” sitcom star Neil Patrick Harris doesn’t want Spears back on the show.
Harris says he’s opposed to “stunt casting” in general to pump up ratings, but that Spears did a good job with her March 24 cameo and he would welcome her return.
The birthday bunch
Actor Michael Ansara is 86. Country singer Roy Clark is 75. Actress Emma Thompson is 49. Actor Danny Pino (“Cold Case”) is 34. Actress Emma Watson (“Harry Potter”) is 18.