Booksellers sold 8.9 million English-language copies of “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” in the first 24 hours in which it was available. The publisher, Scholastic Press, had printed 10.8 million copies prior to the mid-July release and ordered another 2.7 million once sales commenced. Business was brisk — the U.K.’s WH Smith reported selling Harry’s latest adventures at the rate of 13 books per second.

Harry Potter’s fans who don’t read English were in for a bit of a wait. The People’s Literature Publishing House plans to have its Chinese edition ready by October. Translators to the rescue! The Associated Press reported on what we would characterize as the latest localization project, in which volunteers took on the task of translating the Half-Blood Prince into Chinese far ahead of the officially sanctioned edition. On game day last month the English-language edition cost 178 yuan (US$21), but the voluntary translation into Chinese could be had in an underpass in downtown Beijing for just 20 yuan ($2.50).

Why the rush? Without a Hogwartsesque spell in fractured Latin (“facere linguam brittanicam potentam”?) that would impart fluency in English, Chinese readers would have to wait months to hear what happened to Harry. Earlier volumes about “Ha-li Bo-te” have sold millions of copies in China, demonstrating a ready market.

Localization? Voluntary translators? Wait a second. This is a book, not open source software. Some of those involved will profit from the translation, while other fans were planning to post their translations or derivative works for free. Those are both troublesome issues. We find unofficial translations for profit offensive in their appropriation for profit of another’s work, despite the best intentions. Just as importantly, they remove the author’s imprimatur that official translation projects should require. Would we feel differently if this were the cure for AIDS or cancer rather than a ripping yarn about adolescent wizards? Definitely, but that brings us into other ethical territory. Unauthorized translations will always be tough to police, especially when they happen where pirated DVDs of hit movies sell for a fraction of their price at Wal-Mart.

Derivative works are trickier, as U.S. court activity around “The Wind Done Gone” (a parody of “Gone with the Wind”) demonstrated. Paramount Pictures asserts its copyrights to the Klingon language from Star Trek, making some trekkies wary about creating derivative works based on that intellectual property. Should creators of IP benefit from every instance where they’re referenced? Or is free advertising of the brand enough compensation? Or have such works entered the public domain and have thus become part of popular culture? Hmm, do we need to put a “copyright Paramount Pictures” next to “Klingon” here? We better check with our legal counsel…