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.
- Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone book review
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets book review
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban book review
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire book review
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix book review
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince book review
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows book review
- The Tales of Beedle the Bard book review
Posted: June 16th, 2009
Author: Floresiensis
Categories: JK Rowling
Do you have something to add to this post? Please leave a comment
Book of the Month
Dust of Dreams by Steven Erikson
On the Letherii continent the exiled Malazan army commanded by Adjunct Tavore begins its march into the eastern Wastelands, to fight for an unknown cause against an enemy it has never seen. The fate awaiting the Bonehunters is one no soldier can prepare for, and one no mortal soul can withstand - the foe is uncertainty and the only weapon worth wielding is stubborn courage.
Latest interviews
Interviews plus question and answer sessions with authors, narrators and publishers.
Must-reads
The following reviews are of books that begin the very best fantasy series available.
Special Feature: Fantasy Book Review talks to the Book View Cafe
Book View Cafe is a cooperative site created by a group of writers - including internationally renowned authors Katharine Kerr, Ursula Le Guin and Vonda N. McIntyre - who want to take advantage of the internet's possibilities for reaching a wider audience and to distribute their work directly to their readers. The Book View Cafe is a place where you can find free, original fiction plus the authors' best and out-of-print work for a fee. Fantasy Book Review spoke to Book View Cafe member, science fiction author and memoirist Chris Dolley in February 2010.
Special Feature: Understanding the author of Alice in Wonderland
Lewis Carroll, the elusive author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, has been the subject of enduring fascination for the past hundred years. The destruction of many major documents about his personal life by his descendants has only magnified the mystery. Jenny Woolf's biography, published to coincide with the release of the new Tim Burton Alice in Wonderland film, lays waste to the myths and suspicions that have obscured Carroll's reputation by placing him firmly in the context of his own time.
