The News Keeps Rollin' In...

A couple notes that have popped up since yesterday:

- A fellow named Will Collier, one of the people who received his copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 4 days early from DeepDiscount.com, attempted to sell his copy on eBay. The book sold for $250, apparently to a reviewer at Publishers Weekly. Hours after the sale, eBay received a notice requesting they take the listing down (a little too late...), from The Christopher Little Literary Agency, which represents J.K. Rowling. The agency alleged that the listing constituted the illegal sale of a copyrighted work, even saying that "Mr. Collier included a copy of our client's work on his eBay advertisement and this amounts to an unlawful copying." I'd love to see whether they could back that up in court (seeing as they have no contractual agreement with eBay or Will Collier regarding the release date of the book), but eBay has given them a pat on the head and taken the expired listing down anyway.

- I found this Boston Globe article by a columnist who seems to be feeling guilty for not getting her kids hooked on Harry Potter because now her son is watching disturbing stories on the news (because, you know, there's absolutely nothing dark or unsettling in Harry Potter books, especially the later ones). Paradoxically, this causes her to wish there was no Harry Potter at all. If anyone can make head or tail of this, please let me know.