Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, publisher of the hugely popular Harry Potter books, rejected claims today that Potter author J.K. Rowling plagiarized "substantial" parts of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Reuters reports. The estate of the late author Adrian Jacobs filed a claim with London's High Court alleging that substantial portions of Rowling's fourth novel in the boy-wizard series are similar to Jacobs' 1987 booklet The Adventures of Willy the Wizard — No 1 Livid Land. The Jacobs estate claims that the notion of wizards traveling on trains was originally conceived by Jacobs, though the bulk of their argument seems to stem from Goblet of Fire's central plot element of a wizard tournament.
According to a statement from the estate: “Both Willy and Harry are required to work out the exact nature of the main task of the contest which they both achieve in a bathroom assisted by clues from helpers, in order to discover how to rescue human hostages imprisoned by a community of half-human, half-animal fantasy creatures.” Bloomsbury released a statement of its own today, maintaining that, “this claim is without merit and will be defended vigorously.” Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is estimated to have sold 400 million copies in addition to grossing hundreds of millions of dollars for the subsequent film.
Wizards traveling on trains in England? A wizard tournament? Those are amazingly rare ideas, I guess. It’s impossible to believe that two people could independently have that idea, right? Riiiight.
The Adventures of Willy the Wizard? Yeah, that sounds like a real bestseller, Rowling has probably never even heard, much less read, this book. Sounds like just another shameless ploy to promote a story that was never popular in the first place.
Liebniz and Newton both “discovered” modern calculus at pretty much the exact time independently of one another. If they can figure out calculus independently I’m sure Rowling and this other guy can come up with similar ideas.
This is almost laughable. My favorite part is the “human hostages imprisoned by a community of half-human, half-animal fantasy creatures.” (Hey Alynda)!
why is this cominig out now when the book has been out for, what, 5 years or so? give me a break.
This lawsuit is a joke. “Goblet of Fire” was published in 2000 and the movie came out in 2005 — where have these people been all these years? Another pathetic attempt to capitalize on the success of Ms. Rowling.
Nowhere in that description is there anything that is actually plagiarism. Similarities are absolutely fine–many films and novels follow VERY similar plot structures. This truly is baseless, until I see passages side by side which are exactly the same. Ridiculous.
So the wizard train and the wizard prison that appear in earlier and later editions of the series are not an issue then?? Whatever. If it took them ten years to figure out that one of the biggest selling books in modern history might be stealing their mojo then they deserver it. I doubt JK Rowling ever heard of the booklet. Not even a whole book — just a booklet.
So this guy invented wizards riding in trains???? Give him the billions HP has made THIS INSTANT!!!! haha just kidding.
So this guy invented the idea of wizards riding in trains???? Give him the billions HP has made THIS INSTANT!!!! haha just kidding!
um, Goblet did not sell 400 million copies. that’s the total for ALL Potter books
Well, considering that “HP” is really just a picking and choosing of elements from a lot of other fantasy stories, it’s not surprising. But I rather doubt she stole from this book specifically.
It’s not like she had an aged wizard guiding a young fellow on a quest die and come back from the dead in some Gandalf-like trip.
Oh, wait. . .
Oh please. Can you imagine if Shakespeare had been alive today? He’d be bankrupted and discredited for all the storylines he filched and rewrote. It’s not the story, it’s the way it’s told, and success is all about luck. Rowling wrote some great school mysteries. It’s a genre that has been popular for decades, going back to Enid Blyton. She made the world she created irrestistible to children by making Hogwarts into an endless magical playground. Its success has nothing to do with a passing familiarity some of the individual storylines might have with other stories.
Nice Speech!
you are so right! JK Rowling is the best author i have ever seen. nobody, and i mean NOBODY will ever sell or write as good of books as she has. hp is better and more popular than that twilight crap, too. i think stephanie meyers tried to make good books like hp but she failed horribly. nobody likes that sappy romance novels. hp is WAY better! so quit hating on harry potter! hate on twilightt instead! and, the adventures of willy the wizard! and, harry potter and the decline of the high elves! thhis book was written by some girl named franchisca solar. she hated order of the pheonix so much she thought she could make her own version of half blood prince! that is plagurism! JK Rowling should march up to her and demand her books back. i’ll never buy any of those books. p.s i read twilight saga and harry potter and the decline of the high elves, and both of them were terrible! peace out.
@Ellen:
Shakespeare? You’re really comparing Rowling to Shakespeare?
Shakespeare wrote in a way that appealed to the masses enough to put butts in the seats, but was nationalist enough to avoid getting his head cut off. He was brilliant and bold (assuming he existed, of course).
Not to take away from Rowling the fact that she inspired kids to actually stand in line to buy books, but Shakespeare is in different league. A better league.
Relax. She’s not saying J.K. is like Shakespeare, she’s using Shakespeare to illustrate a valid point.
Just because there are similarities in plot doesn’t make something plagiarism. This is just a ploy for publicity for this other book.
Oooh, now I want to go out and read about Harry’s Willy!
Yikes, I just realized these comments are a year and a half old!