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Bloomsbury deny JK Rowling copyright infringement allegations

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc on Monday denied allegations that author JK Rowling copied "substantial parts" of a book by another children’s author when she wrote Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

An author who allegedly invented a Harry Potter-style character years before JK Rowling but died penniless has launched a billion-dollar law suit against the boy wizard from beyond the grave. Its alleged that in trying to publish his book Willy the Wizard in 1987, English writer Adrian Jacobs approached the same agent who went on to become Rowling’s agent.

Jacobs estate last night issued proceedings in the High Court of England against Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, the publishers of the multi-billion dollar Harry Potter series, claiming copyright infringement.

Jacobs created a character called Willy the Wizard in a 1987 book called The Adventures of Willy the Wizard-No 1 Livid Land.

His estate claims that Rowling’s 2000 book Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire copies it substantially and the publisher Bloomsbury has infringed the copyright.

The estate says both books describe the adventures of a main character who is a wizard and both compete in a wizard contest which they ultimately win.

The Willy the Wizard book was ultimately published by Bachman and Turner in 1987, however following the stock market crash, Jacobs became bankrupt and died penniless in a London hospice in 1997.

The Jacobs estate is seeking an injunction to prevent further sales of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and either damages or a share in the profits made by Bloomsbury Plc in selling books that are alleged to infringe Adrian Jacobs copyright.

Source: Reuters.com

JK Rowling was born in the town of Yate, South Gloucestershire in 1965. She is the most successful literary author of all time and her world-famous Harry Potter series has so far sold a staggering 400,000,000 copies worldwide and has been translated into over sixty five different languages.

Posted: June 16th, 2009
Author: Floresiensis
Categories: JK Rowling

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