Another month, another plagiarism claim. The target this time is "Harry Potter" creator J.K. Rowling, whose name has been added as a defendant to a lawsuit filed in June against Bloomsbury Publishing PLC by the estate of the late Adrian Jacobs. According to The Associated Press , the suit alleges that "Potter" book four, 2000's "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," borrowed liberally from Jacobs' 1987 book "The Adventures of Willy the Wizard — No. 1 Livid Land" and took other ideas from the "Willy the Wizard" series.
Rowling, no stranger to copyright infringement proceedings, was quick to speak up in her own defense. "I am saddened that yet another claim has been made that I have taken material from another source to write Harry," she said. "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."
Jacobs died in 1997. In 2004, his estate approached Bloomsbury with similar claims, but the situation failed to escalate when no identical passages in the two books could be identified. In speaking against the updated suit, Rowling went on to say that she will join Bloomsbury in filing for the court to rule "without delay" that the allegations are "without merit."
The Jacobs estate, based out of Australia, obviously sees things differently. Rep Max Markson calls this "a billion-dollar case." Estate trustee Paul Allen is also looking into possible copyright breaches relating to the "Harry Potter" films and soon-to-open Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park in Orlando, Florida.
Rowling is in good company when it comes to copyright infringement allegations targeting high-profile works of fiction. Last summer, "Twilight" author Stephenie Meyer was named in a plagiarism suit that alleged she had lifted significant portions of another writer's book for the final chapter in her vampire romance series, "Breaking Dawn." That suit was dismissed in December. Time will tell whether the same happens with these "Potter" claims.
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