Mock. Mockmockmock. Mockity-mock-mock

5:42am: Epic burn
Previously on The Hundred Years' Wank: RDR demands to see JKR's notes, judge lols; RDR files its response; the NYT weighs in; grudgepuppet accuses TLC's Melissa of tax fraud, recipes ensue.

Leaky grudgewank hits the Times Union. Key sentence: "Fansites such as The Leaky Cauldron and Mugglenet have been selling ad space on their sites for years and some have cried fowl."* Includes wank in the comments.

* Which fowl? "TURKEY! PHEASANT! CHICKENNNN!"

And then: JKR/WB Respond in Lexicon Suit. From TLC: "This is the last filing before a hearing on March 13 to determine if a preliminary injunction will be granted. After that there still may or may not be a trial to determine if infringement has taken place." ( Key points )

Whew. *goes to have a lie-down*

ETA: From karintheswede, "Methuen, the British firm set to publish the Lexicon if RDR/SVA win, is ' "fairly confident" the court will rule in RDR's favour,' according to The Bookseller."

ETA 2 from TLC: "Harvard Law Wayne State University faculty and copyright/IP professor Derek Bambauer says that a recent NYT article on the case "Foul[ed] Up Fair Use" and contains an "embarassingly simple mistake of copyright law."

ETA 3: The filings are finally up at Justia.

ETA 4: Most viewed new story on Yahoo News: Rowling bashes 'Harry Potter Lexicon.'

ETA 5: RDR Books speaks. ( Read more... )

ETA 5b: The Lexicon story hits Smart Bitches, Trashy Books.

ETA 5c: From ravenbell: an article from Cinematical: "Discuss: When Fans Go Too Far." Includes wank in the comments; I'm not really sure what's going on with the "bright shiny snowflake" comment.

ETA 6: Nora Roberts speaks:

Fan fiction doesn’t copy the author’s story and call it their own, but uses it or the characters, as a springboard for another story. And not for profit. Much different, to my mind, than what Edwards did over many years and with many sources.

But this suit seems to involve someone who IS taking the author’s words, without her permission, and trying to sell it for profit. I’d sue, too.

I don’t mind fan fiction (understand those authors who do), but when I find my work on the internet--for profit or not--copied and claimed by someone else, I shut it down.

NORA ROBERTS HAS SPOKEN.

2:04pm: "I am ripe for reporting."
Mabinogi is an MMO that has been highly popular in Korea for several years. Recently, NexonUSA announced they would be bringing the game to North America. Going hand-in-hand with this, it was revealed the Korean server would be blocking all North American IPs and the North American server would block Korean IPs. This is a typical practice insuring that the two servers are not in competition with each other. Despite similar things happening before with the popular MapleStory, the forums for Mabinogi on NexonUSA's website are filled with the sort of dramatics that would put most soap operas to shame.

kitaek27 is one of the brave, brave souls stepping forward to speak against THE MAN. Putting their very forum title of 'Honored Member' on the line!:

"I would first like to say that I am quite afraid for making this post. I was never much of a leader, but a second hand man who always pulled the action behind the scenes. This thread will break several forum rules, and I am afraid that I may have my Honor Member badge stripped from me again, or perhaps be banned. However, it is a risk I am willing to take." ... "I am talking about the friends we've made. The intimate feelings we've gained for our hard trained characters. The fun we've had watching our pets give us heart signs as we feed it the milk just made from the cooking skill. The amount of money we've put into the account. The newest accomplishments we've made, that we can only refer to screenshots to recall from."

kitaek27 then proceeds to ask people to report them for their rebellious ways several times (in spite of the fact most of the people replying agree with their stance and are telling them how 'brave' they are). They even make a point to double post as that's 'the most serious, lethal, and dangerous rule breaking of all'. Also, they announce plans to protest the tragic event via art:

"As soon as finals are over, I am dedicating 100% of my time to make a short, 10~20 page doujin (fan manga) on Mabinogi.

Content? You will see many mabinogi players happily enjoying themselves, with the most greatest scenery, friendship relations, and basically, participating in FANTASY LIFE. Then, some heavily armored guards, identifying themselves as Nexon Staff members, will start DRAGGING players out of the server. The guild members and friends of players who are being dragged out will beg and beg to let the player go, but the only response the Staff will make is "He is using a North American IP. These are the rules", and as the player is being dragged out forceably, they will cry in pain and ask for forgiveness as he CLAWS in the ground desperate to stay. The user is beaten DRAMATICALLY and thrown out. The player will then reflect on all the friends and memories he will miss.

The end."

Naturally, the uproar is not limited to one post. Oh, heavens no.

( Some choice quotes from the oppressed. )

The whole thing calls for dramatic readings with an instrumental of 'My Heart Will Go On' playing in the background.

(And I can't figure out if Spirit is a bot or just someone with the ultimate goal of being as annoying and nonsensical as possible.)

ETA: It has come to my attention as the threads have progressed that a Korean social security number is required to play the game. This means any of the non-Korean players complaining about the ban had to have stolen a SSN to even be able to play in the first place. Which adds a whole new layer of special to the wank.

Son of ETA: Well I clicked on the thread today and the original post now just has 'PETITION CLOSED. ALL NA PLAYERS CAN ONCE AGAIN PLAY KR MABINOGI.' So I guess the squeaky wheel gets the... er... water no longer held four feet away?