Nancy Stouffer
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Since first coming to wide notice in the late 1990s, the ''
Harry Potter ''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven Fantasy literature, fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young Magician (fantasy), wizard, Harry Potter (character), Harry Potter, and his friends ...
'' book series by
J. K. Rowling Joanne Rowling ( ; born 31 July 1965), known by her pen name , is a British author and philanthropist. She is the author of ''Harry Potter'', a seven-volume fantasy novel series published from 1997 to 2007. The series has List of best-sell ...
has been the subject of a number of legal disputes. Rowling, her various publishers and
Time Warner Warner Media, LLC ( doing business as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate owned by AT&T. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City. It was established as Time Warne ...
, the owner of the rights to the ''Harry Potter'' films, have taken numerous legal actions to protect their copyrights, and also have fielded accusations of copyright theft themselves. The worldwide popularity of the ''Harry Potter'' series has led to the appearance of a number of locally-produced, unauthorised sequels and other derivative works, leading to efforts to ban or contain them. While these legal proceedings have countered a number of cases of outright piracy, other attempts have targeted not-for-profit endeavours and have been criticised. Another area of legal dispute involves a series of injunctions obtained by Rowling and her publishers to prohibit anyone from distributing or reading her books before their official release dates. The sweeping powers of these injunctions have sometimes drawn criticism from civil liberties and free speech campaigners and led to debates over the "right to read". One of these injunctions was used in an unrelated trespassing case as precedent supporting the issuing of an injunction against a
John Doe John Doe (male) and Jane Doe (female) are multiple-use placeholder names that are used in the British, Canadian, and American legal systems, when the true name of a person is unknown or is being intentionally concealed. In the context of law ...
. (kept at
Oxford Center for Higher Education Policy Studies
Outside these controversies, a number of particular incidents related to ''Harry Potter'' have also led, or almost led, to legal action. In 2005, a man was sentenced to four years in prison after firing a replica gun at a journalist during a staged deal for stolen copies of an unreleased ''Harry Potter'' novel, and attempting to blackmail the publisher with threats of releasing secrets from the book. Then in 2007
Bloomsbury Publishing Bloomsbury Publishing plc is a British worldwide publishing house of fiction and non-fiction. Bloomsbury's head office is located on Bedford Square in Bloomsbury, an area of the London Borough of Camden. It has a US publishing office located in ...
contemplated legal action against the supermarket chain
Asda Asda Stores Limited (), trading as Asda and often styled as ASDA, is a British supermarket and petrol station chain. Its headquarters is in Leeds, England. The company was incorporated as Associated Dairies and Farm Stores in 1949. It expanded ...
for libel after the company accused them of overpricing the final ''Harry Potter'' novel, ''
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows'' is a fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling. It is the seventh and final novel in the ''Harry Potter'' series. It was released on 21 July 2007 in the United Kingdom by Bloomsbury Publish ...
''.


Allegations of copyright and trademark infringement against Rowling


Nancy Stouffer

In 1999, American author Nancy Kathleen Stouffer alleged
copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive legal right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, ...
and
trademark infringement Trademark infringement is a violation of the exclusive rights attached to a trademark without the authorization of the trademark owner or any licensees (provided that such authorization was within the scope of the licence). Infringement may occ ...
by Rowling of her 1984 works ''The Legend of Rah and the Muggles'' () and ''Larry Potter and His Best Friend Lilly''. The primary basis for Stouffer's case rested in her own purported invention of the word "
Muggle In J. K. Rowling's ''Harry Potter'' series, a Muggle () is a person who lacks any sort of magical ability and was not born in a magical family. Muggles can also be described as people who do not have any magical blood inside them. It differs fr ...
s", the name of a race of
mutant In biology, and especially in genetics, a mutant is an organism or a new genetic character arising or resulting from an instance of mutation, which is generally an alteration of the DNA sequence of the genome or chromosome of an organism. It i ...
humanoid A humanoid (; from English ''human'' and '' -oid'' "resembling") is a non-human entity with human form or characteristics. By the 20th century, the term came to describe fossils which were morphologically similar, but not identical, to those of ...
s in ''The Legend of Rah and the Muggles'', and Larry Potter, the title character of a series of activity booklets for children. Larry Potter, like Harry Potter, is a bespectacled boy with dark hair, though he is not a character in ''The Legend of Rah and the Muggles''. Stouffer also drew a number of other comparisons, such as a castle on a lake, a receiving room and wooden doors. Portions of ''Rah'' were originally published in booklet form in 1986 by Ande Publishing Company, a company founded by Stouffer together with a group of friends and family.Scholastic, Inc. v. Stouffer 221 F. Supp. 2d 425 ( S.D.N.Y. 2002) Ande Publishing filed for bankruptcy in September 1987 without selling any of its booklets in the United States or elsewhere. Rowling has stated that she first visited the United States in 1998. Rowling, along with
Scholastic Press Scholastic Corporation is an American multinational publishing, education, and media company that publishes and distributes books, comics, and educational materials for schools, teachers, parents, children, and other educational institutions. P ...
(her American publisher) and
Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...
(holders of the series' film rights), pre-empted Stouffer in 2002 with a suit of their own seeking a
declaratory judgment A declaratory judgment, also called a declaration, is the legal determination of a court that resolves legal uncertainty for the litigants. It is a form of legally binding preventive by which a party involved in an actual or possible legal ma ...
that they had not infringed on any of Stouffer's works. The court found in Rowling's favour, granting summary judgment and holding that "no reasonable juror could find a likelihood of confusion as to the source of the two parties' works". During the course of the trial, it was held that Rowling proved "by clear and convincing evidence, that Stouffer has perpetrated a fraud on the Court through her submission of fraudulent documents as well as through her untruthful testimony", including changing pages years after the fact to retroactively insert the word "muggle". Her case was dismissed with prejudice and she was fined $50,000 for her "pattern of intentional bad faith conduct" in relation to her employment of fraudulent submissions, as well as being ordered to pay a portion of the plaintiffs' legal fees. Stouffer appealed the decision in 2004, but in 2005 the
Second Circuit Court of Appeals The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (in case citations, 2d Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. Its territory covers the states of Connecticut, New York, and Vermont, and it has appellate jurisdic ...
affirmed the ruling. In 2006 she stated on her website that she was planning to republish her books and was entertaining the possibility of another lawsuit against Warner Bros., J. K. Rowling and Scholastic Press. ''The Legend of Rah and the Muggles'' is out of print. In early 2001, it was published by Thurman House, LLC, a Maryland publishing company. Thurman House, formed by Ottenheimer Publishers to republish the works of Nancy Stouffer, was closed when Ottenheimer ceased operations in 2002 after filing for bankruptcy. Stouffer later asserted that any copies of the book published by Thurman House are unauthorized because the publisher failed to honour its contractual obligations to her.


The Wyrd Sisters

In 2005, Warner Bros. offered CAD$5,000 (later CAD$50,000) to the Canadian folk band the Wyrd Sisters for the rights to use their name in the film version of ''Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire''. Rowling had written a scene in the novel in which a band called the Weird Sisters appeared at a school dance, and the group owned the rights to the name in Canada. However, the offer was declined, and instead the band undertook a legal action against Warner Bros., as well as
Jarvis Cocker Jarvis Branson Cocker (born 19 September 1963) is an English musician. As the founder, frontman, lyricist and only consistent member of the band Pulp (band), Pulp, he became a reluctant figurehead of the Britpop genre of the mid-1990s. Cocker h ...
of Pulp and
Jonny Greenwood Jonathan Richard Guy Greenwood (born 5 November 1971) is an English musician. He is the lead guitarist and keyboardist of the rock band Radiohead, and has composed numerous film scores. He has been named one of the greatest guitarists by numer ...
and
Phil Selway Philip James Selway (born 23 May 1967) is an English musician and the drummer of the rock band Radiohead. He combines rock drumming with electronic percussion. Selway was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Radiohead in ...
of
Radiohead Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon-on-Thames, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band members are Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Gre ...
, who were to play the band in the film. All plans to use the name in the movie were later abandoned. Despite that decision, the Canadian band filed a CAD$40-million ($39 million) lawsuit against Warner in Ontario court. In connection with the lawsuit, the band brought an
interlocutory Interlocutory is a legal term which can refer to an Court order, order, Sentence (law), sentence, decree, or Judgment (law), judgment, given in an intermediate stage between the commencement and conclusion of a cause of action, used to provide a ...
injunction An injunction is an equitable remedy in the form of a special court order compelling a party to do or refrain from doing certain acts. It was developed by the English courts of equity but its origins go back to Roman law and the equitable rem ...
hoping to prevent the release of the film. The injunction application was dismissed. The entire suit was dismissed in November 2005. In June 2006, an Ontario judge decreed that the band pay Warner Bros. CAD$140,000 in legal costs, describing their lawsuit as "highly intrusive". The group stated that they planned to appeal the decision. Jarvis Cocker initially wished to release an album of "Weird Sisters"-themed music with collaborators including Franz Ferdinand,
Jack White John Anthony White (; born July 9, 1975) is an American musician who achieved international fame as the guitarist and lead singer of the rock duo the White Stripes. As the White Stripes disbanded, he sought success with his solo career, subse ...
and
Iggy Pop James Newell Osterberg Jr. (born April 21, 1947), known professionally as Iggy Pop, is an American singer, musician, songwriter, actor and radio broadcaster. He was the vocalist and lyricist of proto-punk band the Stooges, who were formed in 1 ...
, but the project was dropped as a result of the lawsuit. The Wyrd Sisters reported
death threats A death threat is a threat, often made Anonymity, anonymously, by one person or a group of people to kill another person or group of people. These threats are often designed to intimidate victims in order to Psychological manipulation, manipulat ...
from irate ''Harry Potter'' fans. As of March 2010, the lawsuit has been settled out of court, the details sealed.


Adrian Jacobs

In June 2009, the estate of Adrian Jacobs, a children's author who died in 1997, sued Rowling's publishers, Bloomsbury, for £500 million, accusing her of having plagiarised "substantial parts" of his work in writing the novel ''Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire''. In a statement, Jacobs's family claimed that a scene in ''Goblet of Fire'' was substantially similar to Jacobs's book ''The Adventures of Willy the Wizard: Livid Land''. They also launched a joint suit against Rowling and her publishers. Bloomsbury countered with a statement of its own, saying that "This claim is without merit and will be defended vigorously," and that Rowling "had never heard of Adrian Jacobs nor seen, read or heard of his book ''Willy the Wizard'' until this claim was first made in 2004, almost seven years after the publication of the first ''
Harry Potter ''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven Fantasy literature, fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young Magician (fantasy), wizard, Harry Potter (character), Harry Potter, and his friends ...
'' book." The Jacobs estate, driven by his son and grandson, have published a website with details and excerpts from the book, according to the ''
Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division. ...
''. In July 2010, the estate filed suit against Rowling's American publisher, Scholastic, demanding that the company burn all copies of ''Goblet of Fire''. On 6 January 2011, the US lawsuit against Scholastic was dismissed. The judge in the case stated that there was not enough similarity between the two books to make a case for plagiarism. In the UK courts, on 21 March 2011, Paul Allen, a trustee of the Jacobs estate, was ordered to pay as security to the court 65% of the costs faced by Bloomsbury and Rowling, amounting to over £1.5million, to avoid the claim being struck out. It was reported in ''The Bookseller'' that Paul Allen has appealed against paying this sum. As a condition of the appeal, he paid £50,000 to the court in May 2011. The claim was formally struck out in July 2011 after the deadline for Allen's initial payment was missed.


International publications

In 2002, an unauthorised Chinese-language sequel titled ''Harry Potter and Bao Zoulong'' (Chinese: Simplified: 哈利波特与豹走龙, Traditional: 哈利波特與豹走龍,
Hanyu Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin, or simply pinyin, officially the Chinese Phonetic Alphabet, is the most common romanization system for Standard Chinese. ''Hanyu'' () literally means ' Han language'—that is, the Chinese language—while ''pinyin'' literally ...
: ''Hālì Bōtè yǔ Bào Zǒulóng'') appeared for sale in the People's Republic of China. (In English-language media this was mistranslated as ''Harry Potter and Leopard-Walk-Up-to-Dragon''.) According to translated excerpts, the book principally consists of the text of
J. R. R. Tolkien John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''. From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was the Rawlinson ...
's ''
The Hobbit ''The Hobbit, or There and Back Again'' is a children's fantasy novel by the English author J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published in 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the ...
'', but with most names changed to those of ''Harry Potter'' characters. The book was quickly recognised by media outlets as a fake. Rowling and
Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...
took steps to stop its distribution. Copies were briefly distributed around the world, including
e-book An ebook (short for electronic book), also spelled as e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in electronic form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. Al ...
copies traded on the Internet. In November 2002, the Bashu Publishing House, in the southwestern city of
Chengdu Chengdu; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ; Chinese postal romanization, previously Romanization of Chinese, romanized as Chengtu. is the capital city of the Chinese province of Sichuan. With a ...
, agreed to pay a £1,600 fine and publish an apology in China's ''Legal Times'' for printing and distributing the novel.Legal magic spells win for Harry in China
Oliver August and Jack Malvern, ''The Times'', 2002-11-02 Retrieved on: 2007-09-25
As of 2007, the identity of the anonymous author had not been discovered. The opening of ''Harry Potter and Bao Zoulong'', translated into English, was included in several news articles. As of 2007, it is estimated that there are fifteen million copies of fraudulent ''Harry Potter'' novels circulating in China, among them titles such as ''Harry Potter and the Porcelain Doll'' (otherwise known as ''Harry Potter and Ciwawa''), ''Harry Potter and the Filler of Big'', ''Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Relative Prince'', and ''Harry Potter and the Golden Armor''. In 2007, Rowling's agents, the
Christopher Little Literary Agency Christopher Little Literary Agency was a literary agency in London. It closed in 2021 following the death of its founder, Christopher Little. Its clients included Darren Shan, A. J. Quinnell, Cathy Hopkins, and Wladyslaw Szpilman. The agen ...
, began to discuss the possibility of legal proceedings concerning a fake version of ''
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows'' is a fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling. It is the seventh and final novel in the ''Harry Potter'' series. It was released on 21 July 2007 in the United Kingdom by Bloomsbury Publish ...
'' that appeared in China ten days before the actual book's publication. In 2003, legal pressure from ''Harry Potters publishers led an Indian publisher to stop publication of '' Harry Potter in Calcutta'' by Uttam Ghosh; a work in which Harry meets figures from
Bengali literature Bengali literature () denotes the body of writings in the Bengali language and which covers Old Bengali, Middle Bengali and Modern Bengali with the changes through the passage of time and dynastic patronization or non-patronization. Bengali h ...
. The case was settled out of court. Also in 2003, courts in the Netherlands prevented the distribution of a Dutch translation of '' Tanya Grotter and the Magical Double Bass'', the first of Dmitri Yemets' popular Russian series about a female apprentice wizard. Rowling and her publishers sued, arguing that the Grotter books violate
copyright A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive legal right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, ...
law. Yemets and his original Moscow-based publishers,
Eksmo Eksmo Publishing House was founded in 1991. At first the company worked in the field of wholesale trade in books, since 1993 it started independent publishing activities. In 2012, the publishing house became part of the structure of the publish ...
, argued that the books constitute a parody, permitted under copyright. The Dutch courts ruled that the books did not constitute parody and thus were not allowed to be sold in the Netherlands. Later that year, as the Dutch translation ''Tanja Grotter en de magische contrabas'' was still legal in Belgium, the Flemish publishers Roularta Books decided to print 1,000 copies (and no more) in order to let people decide whether it was
plagiarism Plagiarism is the representation of another person's language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions as one's own original work.From the 1995 ''Random House Dictionary of the English Language, Random House Compact Unabridged Dictionary'': use or close ...
, hoping that under those circumstances Rowling and her publishers would not sue.'Tanja Grotter' wel in België te lezen
, Nieuws.nl, 2003-09-25. Retrieved on 2008-09-25 (in Dutch)
Rowling did not sue, and the book, which Dutch people could buy by postal order from another Flemish publisher, Boekhandel VanIn, soon sold out. The books continue to be published in Russia and have spawned several sequels. In August 2008, Warner Bros. filed a lawsuit against production company Mirchi Movies due to the similarity of the title of their
Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and "Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". The in ...
film '' Hari Puttar: A Comedy of Terrors'' to the ''Harry Potter'' film series. Mirchi Movies CEO Munish Purii claimed there is very little similarity between Hari Puttar and any elements in the ''Harry Potter'' franchise, and explained that Hari is a popular Indian name, while "puttar" means "son" in Punjabi, although Indian versions of ''Harry Potter'' also translate Harry's name to Hari Puttar. The film was delayed until late September. Warner Bros. claimed that the title was confusing, but Mirchi Movies claimed they registered the name in 2005. On 24 September 2008, the court in Delhi rejected Warner Bros.' claim, saying that ''Harry Potter'' readers were sufficiently able to distinguish between the two works. They also accused Warner Bros. of delaying the action, since they were aware of the film as far back as 2005.


Other accusations of infringement

In 2000, in the lead-up to the release of the first ''Harry Potter'' film, ''
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' is a fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling. It is the first novel in the ''Harry Potter'' series and was Rowling's debut novel. It follows Harry Potter, a young wizard who disco ...
''; Warner Bros., the film's distributor, sent a series of letters to owners of ''Harry Potter'' fansites, demanding that, to protect their copyright, they hand over their domain names. The action resulted in negative publicity for the company when the 15-year-old webmaster of the British fansite harrypotterguide.co.uk was reduced to tears by what were described by her father as unnecessary bully tactics. Eventually the corporation backed down in the face of media opposition and declared that, as the site was non-commercial, it did not violate the trademark. In their May 2004 issue, the
US Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...
publication '' The Preventive Maintenance Monthly'', which instructs soldiers on how to maintain their equipment, featured a spoof comic based on ''Harry Potter'', featuring a character named Topper who resided at Mogmarts School under Professor Rumbledore. The publication received notice from Rowling's lawyers that the comics breached copyright, though the magazine's editor, Ken Crunk, claimed that no violation had taken place, as " e drawings do not look like any of the characters from ''Harry Potter''". After a discussion with Rowling's representatives, the magazine agreed not to use the characters again. In 2004, Rowling and Time Warner launched legal actions against bazee.com, now the Indian branch of the online auction site
eBay eBay Inc. ( , often stylized as ebay) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that allows users to buy or view items via retail sales through online marketplaces and websites in 190 markets worldwide. ...
. The site had hosted illegally created
e-book An ebook (short for electronic book), also spelled as e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in electronic form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. Al ...
s of ''Harry Potter'', which Rowling had never agreed to be published. In 2005, Rowling warned her fans on her website that various "signed" ''Harry Potter'' memorabilia appearing for sale on eBay did not in fact use her signature. She urged her fans to protest eBay to prevent other children from being swindled. In 2007, Rowling launched lawsuits against a number of users of the site, obtaining a series of stay orders preventing them from selling her work. However eBay claimed that in her dealings with the media, Rowling had falsely claimed that her injunctions had been against eBay itself. In June 2007, eBay filed papers with the
Delhi High Court The High Court of Delhi ( Hindustani: दिल्ली उच्च न्यायालय; ''dillī uchcha nyāyālaya'') is the high court in Delhi, India. It was established on 31 October 1966, through the ''Delhi High Court Act, 1966. ...
, alleging that Rowling had caused them "immense humiliation and harassment". The High Court circumvented the application, claiming that it could not make such a judgment until the case went to trial. In October 2007, Warner Bros. sued a group constructing a façade during a
Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...
religious festival in the Indian city of
Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...
for , claiming that they had erected a giant replica of Harry Potter's school,
Hogwarts Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry () is a fictional boarding school of magic for young wizards. It is the primary setting for the first six novels in the '' Harry Potter'' series by J. K. Rowling, and also serves as a major setti ...
, without their permission. Initial reports stated that, as the effort was not for profit, it did not violate Rowling's copyright. The
Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...
claimed that the High Court of Delhi, where the petition was filed, allowed the organisers to carry on with the temporary construction with an order that the structure had to be dismantled after the festival was over and that the court refused to impose any compensation on the basis that the organisers were involved in a "non-profit making enterprise". However, these statements were later retracted: the court had in fact ruled in favour of Warner Bros., but no fine had been ordered, and Warner Bros. claimed that they had only requested a fine because such action was necessary under Indian law. In November 2007, Rowling discussed the case on her website, listing the rumours that she had targeted a non-profit organisation as "Toxic" and saying, "The defendants were not religious charities, and theirs was not a religious celebration. On the contrary, it was a large-scale, commercial, sponsored event involving corporations that included a major Indian high street bank. The event was, however, set up while a Hindu festival was going on ... The court ruled that Warner Bros. rights had indeed been infringed, and that events such as the one in question would need Warner Bros.' permission in the future. The court also restrained all the defendants from any future events infringing Warner Bros. rights." On 31 October 2007, Warner Bros. and Rowling sued Michigan-based publishing firm RDR Books to block the publication of a 400-page book version of the Harry Potter Lexicon, an online reference guide to her work. Rowling, who previously had a good relationship with Lexicon owner Steve Vander Ark, reiterated on her website that she plans to write a ''Harry Potter'' encyclopedia, and that the publication of a similar book before her own would hurt the proceeds of the official encyclopedia, which she plans to give to charity. A judge later barred publication of the book in any form until the case was resolved. In their suit, Rowling's lawyers also asserted that, as the book describes itself as a print facsimile of the Harry Potter Lexicon website, it would publish excerpts from the novels and stills from the films without offering sufficient "transformative" material to be considered a separate work. The trial concluded on 17 April 2008. On 8 September 2008, the judge ruled in her favour, claiming that the book would violate the terms of fair use. In December 2008, a modified (and shorter) version of Vander Ark's Lexicon was approved for publication and was released 16 January 2009 as ''The Lexicon: An Unauthorized Guide to Harry Potter Fiction''. In November 2007, ''
The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact (newspaper), compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until ...
'' reported that Rowling had threatened legal action against American computer programmer G. Norman Lippert for allegedly violating her
intellectual property rights Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, co ...
by producing and publishing the online novel ''James Potter and the Hall of Elders' Crossing'', an unofficial and unauthorised continuation of the ''Harry Potter'' series. Written as a
fan fiction Fan fiction or fanfiction, also known as fan fic, fanfic, fic or FF, is fiction typically written in an amateur capacity by fans as a form of fan labor, unauthorized by, but based on, an existing work of fiction. The author uses copyrighted ...
project for Lippert's wife and sons, the novel is set eighteen years after the end of the last official instalment in the series, ''
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows'' is a fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling. It is the seventh and final novel in the ''Harry Potter'' series. It was released on 21 July 2007 in the United Kingdom by Bloomsbury Publish ...
'', and describes the adventures of
Harry Potter ''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven Fantasy literature, fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young Magician (fantasy), wizard, Harry Potter (character), Harry Potter, and his friends ...
's son, James Sirius Potter, during his first year at
Hogwarts Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry () is a fictional boarding school of magic for young wizards. It is the primary setting for the first six novels in the '' Harry Potter'' series by J. K. Rowling, and also serves as a major setti ...
. A specialist in intellectual property law at Strathclyde University commented that, "If an insubstantial character from a novel is taken and built up by another author in a new story, that can be a defence against copyright infringements." However, after Lippert offered Rowling an advance copy of the novel, Rowling dismissed her threat and said she supported the novel and any others like it. Lippert subsequently produced a sequel, ''James Potter and the Curse of the Gatekeeper''. After the novel first appeared online in early November 2007, some ''Harry Potter'' fans on the Internet initially speculated that the site might be part of an elaborate
viral marketing Viral marketing is a business strategy that uses existing social networks to promote a product mainly on various social media platforms. Its name refers to how consumers spread information about a product with other people, much in the same way th ...
campaign for an official continuation or spinoff of ''Harry Potter'', one either written or at least approved by Rowling herself. On 9 November 2007, Rowling's agent Neil Blair denied that Rowling was in any way involved with the purported project, and
Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...
, the studio which owns the rights to the ''Harry Potter'' film series, denied that the novel was in any way connected to the official ''Harry Potter'' franchise.


Legal injunctions

Rowling and her publishers have brought a series of legal
injunction An injunction is an equitable remedy in the form of a special court order compelling a party to do or refrain from doing certain acts. It was developed by the English courts of equity but its origins go back to Roman law and the equitable rem ...
s to ensure the books' secrecy before their launch. These injunctions have drawn criticism from
civil liberties Civil liberties are guarantees and freedoms that governments commit not to abridge, either by constitution, legislation, or judicial interpretation, without due process. Though the scope of the term differs between countries, civil liberties of ...
campaigners over their potentially sweeping powers over individual freedoms. In 2003, in an attempt to maintain secrecy over the impending release of the fifth ''Harry Potter'' book, '' Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix'', Rowling and her publishers sought and received a groundbreaking injunction against "the person or persons who has or have physical possession of a copy of the said book or any part thereof without the consent of the Claimants". The ruling obtained, for the first time in British law, an injunction against unnamed or unknown individuals; before then, injunctions could only be obtained against named individuals. Lawyers Winterbothams noted that, "The new ''Harry Potter'' style injunction could be used if you expected a demonstration or trespass to take place, but which had not yet begun, so long as you could find a description for the people expected which the Court was satisfied identified 'those who are included and those who are not'". The "Potter injunction" was later used against a camp of Roma travellers. In 2006, pharmaceutical company
GlaxoSmithKline GSK plc (an acronym from its former name GlaxoSmithKline plc) is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Pharmaceutics, pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with headquarters in London. It was established in 2000 by a Mergers an ...
employed the injunction against anonymous animal rights campaigners who had sent threatening letters to their investors. The series garnered more controversy in 2005 with the release of the sixth book, ''
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince ''Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince'' is a fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling. It is the sixth and penultimate novel in the ''Harry Potter'' series, and takes place during Harry Potter's sixth year at the wizard scho ...
'', when a
Real Canadian Superstore Real Canadian Superstore is a chain of supermarkets owned by Canadian food retailing giant Loblaw Companies. Its name is often shortened to Superstore, or, less commonly, RCSS (pronounced “Rick’s”). Originating in Western Canada in the l ...
grocery store accidentally sold several copies before the authorised release date. The Canadian publisher, Raincoast Books, obtained an injunction from the
Supreme Court of British Columbia The Supreme Court of British Columbia is the superior trial court for the province of British Columbia, Canada. The Court hears civil and criminal law cases as well as appeals from the Provincial Court of British Columbia. There are 90 judici ...
prohibiting the purchasers from reading the books in their possession. A comment by a media lawyer that "there is no human right to read" led to a debate in the public sphere about whether free access to information was a human right.
Michael Geist Michael Allen Geist is a Canadian academic, and the Canada Research Chair in Internet and E-Commerce Law at the University of Ottawa. He is the editor of four books on copyright law and privacy law, and he edits two newsletters on Canadian infor ...
, the
Canada Research Chair Canada Research Chair (CRC) is a title given to certain Canadian university research professors by the Canada Research Chairs Program. Program goals The Canada Research Chair program was established in 2000 as a part of the Government of Canada ...
of Internet and E-commerce Law at the
University of Ottawa The University of Ottawa (), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a Official bilingualism in Canada, bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ot ...
, said in response, "The copyright law claim was particularly puzzling. While copyright law does provide copyright owners with a basket of exclusive rights, the right to prohibit reading is not among them. In fact, copyright law has very little to say about what people can do with a book once they have purchased it." Free-speech activist
Richard Stallman Richard Matthew Stallman ( ; born March 16, 1953), also known by his initials, rms, is an American free software movement activist and programmer. He campaigns for software to be distributed in such a manner that its users have the freedom to ...
posted a statement on his blog calling for a boycott until the publisher issued an apology to the public. Solicitors Fraser Milner and Casgrain, who represented Raincoast and formulated the legal argument for the embargo, have rebutted this, saying that the
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms The ''Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms'' (), often simply referred to as the ''Charter'' in Canada, is a bill of rights entrenched in the Constitution of Canada, forming the first part of the '' Constitution Act, 1982''. The ''Char ...
applies only to the government, not to private litigation, and does not offer any protection of the right to read in any case, and the innocent purchasers of the ''Harry Potter'' book had no more right to read it than if they had come into possession of someone's secret diary. In 2007,
Scholastic Corporation Scholastic Corporation is an American multinational publishing, education, and media company that publishes and distributes books, comics, and educational materials for schools, teachers, parents, children, and other educational institutions. P ...
threatened legal action against two booksellers, Levy Home Entertainment and DeepDiscount.com, for selling copies of the final novel, ''
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows'' is a fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling. It is the seventh and final novel in the ''Harry Potter'' series. It was released on 21 July 2007 in the United Kingdom by Bloomsbury Publish ...
'', before its release date of 21 July. In an official statement, Scholastic appealed "to the ''Harry Potter'' fans who bought their books from DeepDiscount.com and may receive copies early requesting that they keep the packages hidden until midnight on 21 July." Customers who agreed not to read the book received a special ''Harry Potter'' t-shirt and a $50 coupon for Scholastic's online store.


Blackmail

In June 2005, Aaron Lambert, a security guard at a book distribution centre in
Corby Corby is a town and civil parish in the North Northamptonshire district of Northamptonshire, England, northeast of Northampton. In 2021 it had a population of 68,164. From 1974 to 2021, it was the administrative headquarters of the Borough of ...
, Northamptonshire, England, stole a number of pages from ''
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince ''Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince'' is a fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling. It is the sixth and penultimate novel in the ''Harry Potter'' series, and takes place during Harry Potter's sixth year at the wizard scho ...
'' six weeks before its intended publication date. He was arrested a day later after negotiations to sell them to John Askill, a journalist from ''
The Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot Plasma (physics), plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as ...
'', turned violent. Lambert reportedly fired a shot from his imitation Walther PPK pistol, but Askill was unharmed. At his trial the following October, Lambert pleaded guilty to threatening Askill and to attempting to blackmail ''Harry Potters publishers,
Bloomsbury Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London, part of the London Borough of Camden in England. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural institution, cultural, intellectual, and educational ...
. In January 2006, Lambert was sentenced to four and a half years in prison. In November 2011, in her testimony before the Leveson Inquiry, Rowling said that the ''Sun'' had attempted to "blackmail" her into a photo-op in return for returning the stolen manuscript.


Accusation of libel

In July 2007, a dispute arose between ''Harry Potters British publisher,
Bloomsbury Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London, part of the London Borough of Camden in England. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural institution, cultural, intellectual, and educational ...
, and
Asda Asda Stores Limited (), trading as Asda and often styled as ASDA, is a British supermarket and petrol station chain. Its headquarters is in Leeds, England. The company was incorporated as Associated Dairies and Farm Stores in 1949. It expanded ...
, a British supermarket chain owned by the US corporation
Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States and 23 other ...
. On 15 July, a week before the release of the final ''Harry Potter'' novel, ''
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows'' is a fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling. It is the seventh and final novel in the ''Harry Potter'' series. It was released on 21 July 2007 in the United Kingdom by Bloomsbury Publish ...
'', Asda issued a press release accusing Bloomsbury of unfairly fixing their prices. Asda spokesman Peter Pritchard claimed that Bloomsbury was "holding children to ransom" and that, " seems like Bloomsbury need to do a quid-ditch as they have sent their prices up north on the Hogwarts Express. By setting the recommended retail price at this level can only be seen as blatant profiteering on their part." Pritchard went on to say that Asda was acting to "champion the right of young readers", and that the recommended retail price was "twice the average child's pocket money and £5 more than the average children's bestseller". Asda had planned to sell the book as a
loss leader A loss leader (also leader) is a pricing strategy where a product is sold at a price below its market cost to stimulate other sales of more profitable goods or services. With this sales promotion/marketing strategy, a "leader" is any popular artic ...
at £8.87, or half Bloomsbury's recommended retail price of £17.99 and below the wholesale price of £9.89. Two days later, Bloomsbury responded that the claims were "potentially libellous" and that:
Asda's latest attempt to draw attention to themselves involves trying to leap on the ''Harry Potter'' bandwagon. This is just another example of their repeated efforts of appearing as Robin Hood in the face of controversy about their worldwide group, which would suggest they are perceived as more akin to the Sheriff of Nottingham. Loss leaders were invented by supermarkets and have nothing to do with Bloomsbury Publishing or ''Harry Potter'' and we deeply regret having been dragged into their price-wars.
Bloomsbury stated that the price hike of £1 from the previous ''Harry Potter'' novel was due to it having been printed on recycled paper. "There is a price to be paid by the consumer for environmental best practice", a Bloomsbury spokeswoman said. Bloomsbury CEO Nigel Newton said, " hey haveunleashed a very disingenuous, self-interested attack on us. This is complete nonsense and all they're doing is grandstanding as they've done on the price of aspirin and bread. They try to turn it into a big deal as though it's a moral crusade for them, but it's nothing of the kind." That same day, Bloomsbury cancelled all Asda's orders of ''Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows'', or roughly 500,000 copies, citing unpaid bills from the company totalling £38,000 for unauthorised returns of the sixth ''Harry Potter'' book. "The two matters are completely unrelated", said a Bloomsbury spokeswoman, "We decided today that we couldn't risk having arrears with anybody." The dispute had been "going on a while – going on for weeks actually." Asda responded that Bloomsbury owed them £122,000 ("for pulping and for other book trade issues and work we have done for them") and that, as one company spokesman claimed, "It just seems funny that after we expose the potty Potter price hike, Bloomsbury are trying everything they can to stop kids getting hold of ''Harry Potter'' at a price they can afford." Asda paid the bill within hours, and claimed that Bloomsbury would be in breach of contract if it did not allow the store to sell its books. However, Bloomsbury claimed that the block on Asda's orders was still in place as, "Unfortunately, we've now had to initiate a significant libel claim against them. That matter will have to be dealt with. If they want their 500,000 books, they'll have to come and make peace with us ... It could be good news for all their disappointed customers, because they don't have to go to a soulless Asda shed to buy their book and they can share the magic of ''Harry Potter'' at an independent or specialist bookstore instead." Upon receipt of Bloomsbury's legal letter, Asda responded that, "There is nothing defamatory in our press release. Everything there is factual. It is a commentary on how we see things." Said another Asda spokesperson, "If they don't supply us with the books, it will have a massive implication and ea breach of contract – but I don't think they will do that." Later that day, however, Asda released a statement retracting its original comment: "We apologise unreservedly to Bloomsbury for urpress release dated 15 July and withdraw our statement. We look forward to a good relationship with Bloomsbury going forward, including selling the latest ''Harry Potter'' book from 00:01 am BST on Saturday 21 July and many other Bloomsbury books in the future". In response, Bloomsbury lifted the block and Asda was allowed to sell its books. The original press release was then expunged. The rationale behind Asda's initial press release remains uncertain. Neill Denny, commentator for thebookseller.com, opined that "the whole episode has the whiff of a badly-conceived PR stunt by ill-briefed senior executives at Asda out of touch with the subtleties of the book world." Ralph Baxter of ''Publishing News'' concurred: "For Asda ... it may be seen as mission accomplished, a high-risk strategy to maximise publicity for its ''Harry Potter'' offer rewarded with television, radio, Internet and newspaper coverage. And the association of Asda with low prices has no doubt been entrenched in a few more minds."


References


External links


Online transcription of the judge's ruling in Rowling v. Stouffer

RealMuggles.com
Nancy Stouffer's web site * (in Russian)
harrypotterguide.co.uk
Claire Field's fansite
slate.com on the issues raised by ''Harry Potter'' parodies

Descriptions of various Asian illegal translations

'Harry Potter plagiarism case struck out'
{{DISPLAYTITLE:Legal disputes over the ''Harry Potter'' series Harry Potter controversies Harry Potter series Harry Potter series