Harry Potter "Goblet of Fire" accused of plagiarism

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AnnRKeyintheUSA

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I did searches but couldn't find a thread on this. The publisher, not the writer, is being sued for plagiarism. Someone is claiming she took many ideas from "Willy the Wizard." I am surprised that the person who wrote "The Worst Witch" didn't sue years ago, it was about a witch school where there were rivalries between groups of students and flying broom contests. But anyway this looks very strange they'd wait so many years if they thought they had a case.

Ain't No Plagiarism in Harry Potter Says Publisher - Yahoo! News


Ain't No Plagiarism in Harry Potter Says Publisher E! Online – Ain't No Plagiarism in Harry Potter Says Publisher(E! Online)
Josh Grossberg Josh Grossberg – Tue Jun 16, 4:08 pm ET

Los Angeles (E! Online) – Here's something Harry Potter's people would like to make disappear.

Bloomsbury Publishing is rejecting plagiarism charges against cash cow J.K. Rowling. The estate of little-known fantasy writer Adrian Jacobs claims Rowling ripped off the plot of his 1987 book, The Adventures of Willy the Wizard No. 1 Livid Land, for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the fourth entry in her phenomenally successful series.

"Bloomsbury would like to state that this claim is without merit and will be defended vigorously. The allegations of plagiarism made by the estate of Adrian Jacobs are unfounded, unsubstantiated and untrue," the company said in a statement.

So what prompted the legal case?

According to the complaint, filed in 2004 and which is now making its way through London's High Court, the two books both feature wizards traveling on trains and a magical competition featuring a challenge involving a hostage situation (Goblet of Fire climaxes with the Triwizard Tournament, in which Harry saves bestie Ron and another student from the clutches of an underwater creature called a Grindylow).

Jacobs' lawyers also claimed he engaged the services of literary agent Christopher Little, who subsequently went on to represent Rowling.

Bloomsbury argues it has "never heard of Adrian Jacobs," nor was it aware of his work until the suit was filed by his son, four years after Goblet's release and seven years after Jacobs died penniless in a London hospice.

"Willy the Wizard is a very insubstantial booklet running to 36 pages which had very limited distribution. The central character of Willy the Wizard is not a young wizard, and the book does not revolve around a wizard school," stated the publisher. "The claim was unable to identify any text in the Harry Potter books which was said to copy Willy the Wizard."
 
This is a non-story.

There was a book series written called "Willie the Wizard" (years ago) and they still can't identify any text that resembles anything close to the original Rowling. Get the fuck outta here. FAIL at a cash grab. Realize that you cannot fuck with this franchise. Go away.
 
This article gives a lot more detail on why they are sueing:

Harry Potter publisher denies plagiarism claim - Yahoo! News


Harry Potter publisher denies plagiarism claim
Reuters

By Mike Collett-White Mike Collett-white – Mon Jun 15, 4:30 pm ET

LONDON (Reuters) – Bloomsbury Publishing Plc on Monday denied allegations that author J.K. Rowling copied "substantial parts" of a book by another children's author when she wrote "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire."

The book, published in 2000, was the fourth installment of the hugely successful boy wizard Harry Potter series that has sold more than 400 million copies worldwide and been turned into a multi-billion-dollar film franchise.

"The allegations of plagiarism made today, Monday 15 June 2009, by the Estate of Adrian Jacobs are unfounded, unsubstantiated and untrue," said a statement from Bloomsbury, which publishes Harry Potter in Britain.

"This claim is without merit and will be defended vigorously."

In an earlier statement, Jacobs' estate said that it had issued proceedings at London's High Court against Bloomsbury Publishing Plc for copyright infringement.

"The Estate is also seeking a court order against J.K. Rowling herself for pre-action disclosure in order to determine whether to join her as a defendant to the ... action," the statement read.

It named the estate's trustee as Paul Allen, and said that Rowling had copied "substantial parts" of "The Adventures of Willy the Wizard -- No 1 Livid Land" written by Jacobs in 1987.

It added that the plot of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire copied elements of the plot of Willy the Wizard, including a wizard contest, and that the Potter series borrowed the idea of wizards traveling on trains.

"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," the estate statement said.

"It is alleged that all of these are concepts first created by Adrian Jacobs in Willy the Wizard, some 10 years before J.K. Rowling first published any of the Harry Potter novels and 13 years before Goblet of Fire was published."

According to the statement, Jacobs had sought the services of literary agent Christopher Little who later became Rowling's agent. Jacobs died "penniless" in a London hospice in 1997, it said.

In its response, Bloomsbury said 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 book in the highly publicized Harry Potter series.

"Willy the Wizard is a very insubstantial booklet running to 36 pages which had very limited distribution. The central character of Willy the Wizard is not a young wizard and the book does not revolve around a wizard school."

Bloomsbury added that the claim was first made in 2004 by solicitors acting on behalf of Jacobs' son, who was the representative of his father's estate.

"The claim was unable to identify any text in the Harry Potter books which was said to copy Willy the Wizard."
 
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:wink:
 
Oh yes I have always found the Voldemort-Vader comparison too obvious to even mention. Voldemort was once an arrogant but handsome young student who became evil and disfigured in his quest for stronger powers just like Darth Vader. (and both changed their names) Harry has to face him just like Luke had to face Vader. But I guess making Voldemort his real father would have been too much.

Don't forget Dorothy also lived with her aunt and uncle and dreamed of adventure, just like Luke and Harry...
 
When everyone reads The Hero with a Thousand Faces, it's hard not to "copy" something.

If anything, Star Wars is a rip on Akira Kurosawa's Hidden Fortress.
 
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