Suit Claiming Copyright Infringement Against Bloomsbury Adds J. K. Rowling as Defendant; JKR "Saddened" by Claim
J.K. Rowling
Posted by: Edward
February 17, 2010, 03:07 PM
Bloomberg is reporting that Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling has been added as a defendant in a plagiarism lawsuit against UK Harry Potter book publisher Bloomsbury we first reported last summer. As readers will recall, the suit, filed by the estate of late children's author Adrian Jacobs, claimed that "JK Rowling copied substantial parts of the work of the late Adrian Jacobs, The Adventures of Willy the Wizard-No 1 Livid Land, and that Bloomsbury in selling the books have infringed the Estate's copyright." Today, the estate included J. K. Rowling as a defendant in that suit, after, as the estate claims, "discovering legal cause of action against her within the last six years."
J. K. Rowling has released the following statement through her spokesman:
"I am saddened that yet another claim has been made that I have taken material from another source to write Harry. The fact is I had never heard of the author or the book before the first accusation by those connected to the author’s estate in 2004; I have certainly never read the book. The claims that are made are not only unfounded but absurd and I am disappointed that I, and my U.K. publisher Bloomsbury, are put in a position to have to defend ourselves."
112 Comments
277 Points
This is absolutely ridiculous, there’s no merit to this at all.
27516 Points
I’ve just been to find the willy the wizard website again, and having waded through several extracts which are mostly very badly written, sometimes with so many made up words strung together that there is very little sense in the whole thing. I’m quite surprised it ever managed to get published at all, it’s awful, and they are trying to make it look connected to Harry Potter by using provocative titles on the links and as far as I’m concerned they are failing spectacularly, in fact I feel quite nauseous after reading this rubbish.
461 Points
people are crazy
2570 Points
Ya she spent 17 years plagierising…. i cant stand people who are just looking for the cash
1420 Points
WOW WHAT CAN I SAW
27 Points
this is ridiculous.
738 Points
Such a shame, such a waste of energy. We’re all behind you, Jo.
3121 Points
I have just read about this on the yahoo website. Yeesh. This is the second time this Jacob estate has attempted to got for JK. I don’t believe for a second JK did anything like this whatsoever.
more than likely the other way around!
I won’t be purchasing any books by Adrian Jacobs!
Jo has had to tolerate a lot of trash ever since Harry came out. Including those totally idiotic book burnings. Oh, honestly, some people are just insane.
3121 Points
a lot of jealousy exists against people who are successful, or become successful.
give it a rest and just grow up. yeesh.
3121 Points
after doing some quick reasearch, only 5000 copies of his first book were published by him. it was not mentioned they sold. his second book was never published.
his first book was published in 1987.
lol, guess it couldn’t have been the other way around.
however, JK did not do such a thing.
840 Points
It’s absurd, and Jo will be fine!!!
God Bless Her!!!
4208 Points
Tarana really hit the nail on the head with her post! JKR’s plot lines and a seven book series don’t really compare to a children’s story, especially one hardly anyone has ever heard of.
1661 Points
This WON’T go to court. It Shall be DISMISSED once the judge realizes how bogus it is. This book has nothing in common with the Harry Potter series and I mean NOTHING. Who gives a f**k if there’s a wizarding school?? They’re only attacking Harry Potter because it’s a multi-BILLION dollar series and those stupid grandchildren who are suing are upset that they’re grandfather (who actually wrote the book) didn’t leave them enough money.
3121 Points
it is quite true…just another bid to make some money off of someone elses good fortune.
on further research…Adrian Jacobs estate was bankrupt twice. His son Johnathan lives in America. Adrian was a lawyer.
http://www.willythewizard.com/adrian-jacobs.html
this estate is just reading into things that are plainly not there…the link above also lets you read extracts from this willy book.
There is no way JK did what she is being accused of.
Everyone who loves HP will see this too. JK has the support of all her fans as well.
236 Points
Insanity. People will do anything for money. :\
This is absolutely ridiculous, there’s no merit to this at all.