A British lawsuit claiming that Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling copied a 1987 book will be allowed to proceed, according to the AP. The estate of the late author Adrian Jacobs believes that Rowling plagiarized elements of Jacobs’ The Adventures of Willy the Wizard — No. 1 Livid Land. Rowling asked the court to dismiss the charge, calling the claims unfounded and absurd. However, Justice David Kitchin ruled that the plaintiff’s had the right to move forward, though he described their chances of success as “improbable.”
Oct 14
2010
12:56 PM ET
Judge allows plagiarism suit against J.K. Rowling
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There have been other Potter suits where I thought there might be some merit. But this one apparently is because the other book has a wizard figuring out how to win a contest in a bathroom. That’s pretty weak.
More money for the lawyers on both sides….with the claims inevitably being dismissed. Some people are so jealous of Rowling that they’re continually trying to turn her into their own ‘welfare state.’
The clearest case of plagarism is from the movie Troll. The protagonist was named “Harry Potter” and he became a wizard apprentice to fight for a magical world existing just beyond our own.
My understanding is that Rowlings plagiarised the initial idea and was farmed the original writings belonging to Australian writer, Karen Tonkin, and that she indeed stole Tonkin’s actual writings.
Sounds like the judge is trying to get himself some attention, but whatever. JKR didn’t plagarize anything…these people are just trying to bring attention to their grandfather’s books. They know they have no case.
Willy The Wizard how long did it take to come up with that title,5 seconds?
I laugh at most comments on here. It’s obvious she took ideas. When my dad read the book, he seriously went “this is the same story from a book i read when i was your age” Oddly enough, the main char in that book, was Harry. A Wizard.
Stop defending JK Rowling, she got away with it long enough and its time she got put in her place.
There are many books out there with very similar ideas, character names, themes, etc. The fact that one book resembles another is not evidence of plagiarism. Coincidence plays a greater role in life than people give it credit for. Now if Kantaro’s dad read a book in which Harry the wizard lived under the stairs at his uncle’s house and then went to a wizard’s school… you get the idea – then that has grounds for plagiarism. Merely being a wizard named Harry does not.
Most book genres build on themes from previous books in that genre. Wizard books, vampire books, apocalyptic books, sci-fi books, etc. If we were to sue authors for sharing these themes, we would have no genres to enjoy and no author would dare to write a new book that had any similarities to any other.
agreed.
Having some similar ideas is not plagiarism.
Similar ideas =/= plagiarism. The Harry Potter books were vividly detailed and had tons of unique mythology and ideas. Saying that because someone also wrote about a teenage wizard who used his powers to fight evil is like saying someone also wrote a book in which Martians attacked the Earth. come on. it’s about the expansion of an idea. how many books are there about middle-aged detectives who fall in love with hot women, for instance.