Dismissal Requested for Copyright Infringement Case Against Bloomsbury, J. K. Rowling
J.K. Rowling
Posted by: Edward
July 29, 2010, 01:36 PM
As readers will recall, last February the estate of the late Adrian Jacobs added Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling to a lawsuit against UK Potter publisher Bloomsbury, charging copyright infringement of a 1987 work The Adventures of Willy the Wizard-No 1 Livid Land. The lawsuit, which Ms Rowling related she was "saddened" by, claims the author "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."
Legal representatives for Ms Rowling continued to refute the claims on before the High Court in London on Wednesday, where they petitioned for the case to be dismissed before trial.
The Telegraph reports:
Ms Rowling "did not copy the claimants work and there are no grounds for thinking otherwise", the Financial Times reported him as saying. Mr Baldwin said the books were widely different and claimed it was fanciful to suggest Harry Potter was based on Willy The Wizard.
"We do not hold back – we say the allegations are a disgrace ... and should never have been made," he told Mr Justice Kitchin, who has been asked to give summary judgment on whether the claim should proceed to trial.
Mr Baldwin told the court that Willy the Wizard “was very, very badly written” and alleged the claimants’ website described it as "almost unreadable".
Many thanks, Erna!
52 Comments
Why are people so greedy? I hope they get the dismissal.
512 Points
Hell yeah this is bull. GO JO, beat these liars in court and get the dismissal.
13614 Points
That is the biggest load of crap that I’ve ever read. JKR did NOT copy anything and whoever says otherwise is full of crap too. >:-(
GO JKR :)
27 Points
They are correct, the website excerpts are nearly unreadable. Very poorly written, although if expanded on it might have been ok. It’s very non-detailed.
It would be like Amtrak suing because there are trains in the book.
406 Points
These kind of greedy people make my blood boil.
http://blogs.mallesons.com/ipwhiteboard/willy-the-wizard-v-j-k-rowling-your-exclusive-ip-whiteboard-analysis
^ An article I read recently pertaining to the case.
7461 Points
That bull CRAP I think the author of Willy The Wizard is jealous of JKR cuz her book is popular, WOW people need get a life instead blam on people for something supid.
7461 Points
I mean the person not the author.
4852 Points
Thats just awful! JK Rowling’s work is genuine and unique and she did not copy it from ANYWHERE!
185 Points
They better get the dismissal…the things they state were “copied” are really broad; like “book has wizards play chess” and “wizards have own currency” and stuff like that. It is SUPER ridiculous because the actual author is dead…
113 Points
Just makes you so angry to think that someone is saying that about J.K. Rowling? I mean seriously, her story of Harry Potter is the ultimate story ever written.. and to think someone is jealous enough to accuse her of this? He needs councilling.
This case is not remotely serious but does have entertainment value. I’ve read the extracts of the dead person’s booklet and it bears not the slightlest resemblance to HP, in fact it’s so appallingly written, borderline incomprehensible at times, that nobody other than the person’s family would have been foolish enough to read it.
The only connections to GoF are extremely tenuous conceptual similarities, which of course are not copyrightable. The probable reason the estate are pursuing this is because the author died a bankrupt and this is possibly the only way the estate thought they might get some money for the author’s descendants or for themselves.
It’s a publicity stunt, pure and simple, and won’t get anywhere in an English court. Which reminds me, how refreshing to hear a QC tell it like it is: “no grounds”…“fanciful”…“very badly written”…“almost unreadable”, just for starters. Great fun.
1740 Points
Money……….Fame………Power. It’s all about that. All they want is to gain some right and they’ll have the whole world revolving around them. But I think that is just ridiculous!
345 Points
he told Mr Justice Kitchin, who has been asked to give summary judgment on whether the claim should proceed to trial. ***LOL, Justice Kitchin sounds like a name that Jo would make up for the HP books ;)
29 Points
Yeah, some people see a selfish chance at self-gain and they act on it.
Why are people so greedy? I hope they get the dismissal.