J.K. Rowling Accused of Plagiarizing 'Harry Potter'

By PopEater Staff Posted Feb 18th 2010 08:30AM

J.K. Rowling finds herself in the middle of a plagiarism lawsuit, EOnline.com reports.

The 'Harry Potter' author has been added to the 2004 suit against her British publisher Bloomsbury, which claims Rowling stole the idea for the fourth book in the series -- 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire' -- from a 1987 children's novel, 'The Adventures of Willy the Wizard: No. 1 Livid Land,' by Adrian Jacobs.

"I am saddened that yet another claim has been made that I have taken material from another source to write Harry," Rowling said in a statement.

"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," she added.

"The claims that are made are not only unfounded but absurd and I am disappointed that I, and my U.K. publisher Bloomsbury, are put in a position to have to defend ourselves," the author continued.

Jacobs' estate claims he came up with the ideas for wizard prisons, schools and hospitals -- all elements of Rowling's 'Potter' world.

Tags: harry potter, jk rowling

Comments

(31)

Thursday 18 February

By JBaer

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Somebody's jealous...

By SecretPact

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Yet another example of someone trying to cash in on another's success. When are we going to realize in the U.S.A. what we really need is "legal reform". Whoever loses this case ought to pay the total legal expenses and a very large judicial fee for tying up the court system. Geez!

By Pamela

You do realize that this has nothing to do with the justice system in the United States. This is a British case.

By Ron Hansel

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Did you read the article? Where in the US is Britan? Its not in our court You are a right wing tool sorry to say...

By Grand Marnier

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Both Rowling and her accuser (his estate) live in the UK.

By Lauren

It's a british case. They're not in the US at all.

By John T.

Took them this long to sue?

By Wish Belkin

Every serious author stole from Shakespear and Shakespear stole from the Bible. So it goes.

By KG

Sorry, this young man is out for publicity and money for his own ventures. Needless to say, go back in history, there are so many books and movies that one can say were plagarized by both this young man and Rowlings. One example; "Aladdin, Jeanie in the Bottle, another: Snow White, Witch looking in the mirror, even the Wizard of Oz or Shakespear's MacBeth, then we have; Huckleberry Finn, or Christmas Carol," that all have jails, ghosts, and other magical finds. One story that is bought to mine, is "Madeline," I remember the nun taking the girls to the bake shop and the lady took off her fingers, hence the title, "Lady Fingers?" Growing up in a culturally diverse family, from immigrant grandparents, telling tales from their home lands, they can make your hair stand on end, that those old ghost tales during camp fire outtings have nothing on them. My grandfather, derived from England, and did tell tales from his memories growing up there, and during his time as a soldier, they were truly outrageously scarey, and if Rowlings is telling these tales, she may too, remember tales from her childhood. Hopefully, she does counter sue this young man for plageraizing her works.

By TONY

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IF YOU HAVE MONEY OR NOT....THIS IS JUST STUPID....WHAT CHILD KNOWS THE VALUE OF SUCH LUXURY....ITS THE PARENTS THAT HAVE THE NEED TO SHOW OFF...WITH SO MANY PEOPLE STARVING AND LOSING HOMES...THIS IS A NEW KIND OF STUPID...ITS A SHAME THAT SOME PEOPLE HAVE THAT MUCH AND SHOVE IT DOWN THE THROATS OF THOSE IN NEED...PARENTS ARE RAISING A FUTURE PROBLEM...LIKE THE REST OF HOLLYWOOD OFFSPRING THAT GROW UP BADLY...BECAUSE OF POOR PARENTING SKILLS AND LESSONS....

By Don

WHY DO YOU WRITE IN ALL CAPS?...AND USE DOTS TO SEPARATE SENTENCES...DID YOU EVER TAKE ENGLISH IN SCHOOL...

By sean

stop YELLING............

By Gustavo

Well Then that gives Gene Rodenberry's estate the right to sue George Lucas for going to a galaxy far far away.

Sunday 21 February

By peej151

Gee, does that mean that every male named Harry can sue because they "know" that the books are based on their lives.

By Autumn

Does anyone else notice the similarities between Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter? Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of Harry Potter, but it does kind of seem like she took a few ideas and tweeked them a tiny bit.

By vettonr69

I guess it is time for me to visit my group of attornies and file a similar suite against the Jacobs' Estate, J K Rowling, and both of their publishers for stealing and plagiarizing ideas I had 90 years ago. Wait a minute, I think those ideas were quite similar to something I read when I was 2 years old. I guess my suite would have about as much chance as the Jacobs' Estate..... in Logicworld!!!

By Jim in AR

The word is "suit" not "suite."

By JKR's Biggest fan

Who cares? Rowling is a genius!

Don..TRY KISSING MY ASS...

By Kenny

J.K.ROWLING is a FRAUD from the 1st stolen word from her 1st book.She stole ideas from at least 2 people and has denied her sources to take all the credit.Now people want to jump on her muti-billionaire coattail and live happily ever after with their 6 year old kids.

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