By SLJ Staff
July 20, 2010
J. K. Rowling's U.S. publisher, Scholastic, says the recent plagiarism lawsuit filed against it by the estate of late English author Adrian Jacobs is completely without merit.
J. K. Rowling Photo: J.P. Masclet
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in New York, alleges that Rowling's bestselling Harry Potter series is "substantially similar" to Jacobs's The Adventures of Willy the Wizard: Livid Land (Bachman and Turner, 1987).
It also claims that Rowling, whose Potter books have sold more than 400 million copies worldwide, shared the same literary agent as Jacobs.
Scholastic spokeswoman Kyle Good says the claim that Rowling's agent, Christopher Little, was also an agent to "Adrian Jacobs is simply untrue" and says the publisher extends its complete support to a statement made by Rowling earlier this year.
"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, and I had certainly never read the book," Rowling said in February 2010. "The claims that are made are not only unfounded but absurd."
Last year, the estate of Jacobs, who died in 1997, sued Rowling and her British publisher, Bloomsbury, for plagiarism, claiming that the author borrowed heavily from a scene in Willy the Wizard for Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire (Scholastic, 2003), the fourth title in the seven-book series.
The central theme of each work includes a yearlong wizard contest and unfolds as similar characters enact parallel plot points, the complaint said. And while in a bathroom, both Willy and Harry must decipher a major task in a contest with help from magical creatures. Bloomsbury has denied the claim.
"A similar legal claim in England and Wales to that which has been filed in New York recently, also brought by the estate of Adrian Jacobs, is currently the subject of a summary judgment application by J. K. Rowling and her U.K. publishers Bloomsbury, on the basis that the claim is without merit and should therefore be dismissed without delay," says Good.
The suit calls for Scholastic to recall the Goblet books and pay the estate all profit from it.
This is not the first time Rowling has been pursued by writers claiming she plagiarized work. One of the better-known cases involves a suit brought by Nancy Stouffer about her two stories, The Legend of Rah and the Muggles (2001) and Larry Potter and His Best Friend Lilly ( 2001, both Thurman House), where a character named Larry Potter appears with a physical resemblance to Harry Potter. Stouffer lost her case in 2002 and an appeal three years later
I have ben following this case for my law studies.
Very interesting article. I note that although Scholastic deny Little was the agent,they don't really know, they can say this only because because Mr.Little has denied it, but through Rowlings Publicity firm,not in a court of law!
The similarities betyween the short Willy The Wizard book and the much bigger Goblet beyond the genre can be seen clearly in the Writ issued in The USA as published online at
http://www.scribd.com/doc/34297540/Complaint-Allen-v-Scholastic
Jacobs' Estate claims Little was the agent and they have put sworn testimony, before a court to say so,according to reports. The courtmust decide. Scholastic must believe that Rowling did not plagiarise-if she is found to have done so then she must repay Scholastic lots of money I guess.
Posted by Ben Monash on July 20, 2010 02:40:58PM
Ben is a voice of sanity here. Rowling speaks and everybody believes? Wby should they? Little's PR people speak and, likewise, everybody believes. Why again should they? Not even the Pope gets that much credibility. And worse again their words are given to them by their lawyers. There is no doubt in our minds that the Willy the Wizard people are telling the truth. Why on earth would they spend millions and eight years of their lives perpetrating a lie? In their writ you will find abundant evidence to support their case while all Scholastic can say is: "We don't believe this because Joanne and Christopher told us not to and they always tell the truth." Yea, right! They don't believe it because they want to avoid the horrendous consequences of facing up to the truth.
faithfully, The Bogside Artists
Posted by Enyo on July 20, 2010 09:45:51PM
From reading the excerpts of Willy the Wizard, reading the complaint
and reading the GOF book, I don't think there are enough similarities
between the two for Jacob's estate to win this case, especially
considering many of the themes in the complaint exist in fantasy
series that were written prior to Willy the Wizard. Not to mention, the
task in the Black Lake is much different than the task above ground at
Sams Angry compound in Willy the Wizard.
Seriously, it's not a case of simply believing Rowling or Scholastic. It's
a case of looking at all the material available concerning this case and
making my own judgement. After reviewing it all, I feel this case has
no merit. GOF while sharing some similarities with Willy the Wizard has
far to many differences with characters, writing styles and subplots to
categorize it as plagiarism.
While I believe this to be true and others may disagree, it will ultimately
be up for the courts to decide. We will just have to wait and see.
Posted by Tanner on July 20, 2010 08:31:34PM
Also, concerning whether or not Little was Jacob's agent...wouldn't they
have some type of documentation to prove this? This is where there have
been inconsistencies among the media and the complaint. Last year the
media were claiming Jacob's merely approached Little with his book. Now
it's been stated that Little was actually his agent. Perhaps the media were
mistaken???
Posted by Tanner on July 20, 2010 08:38:05PM
Enyo-I agree the courts will decide and you are entitled to your fair viewpoint having read the papers. However have you thought that maybe the forty odd points of similarity,some new concepts and ideas,plus some gfamiliar or homage concepts ,when combined together in the one plotline and appearing in both books is a rare event and highly indicative of copying? AS for Mr.Little being Jacobs' agent I believe the Estate.After all if Little rejected the book out of hand and then 10 years later Rowling's book with 40 identical combined themes landed out of the blue,then I am humbled by the statiistical odds!
Aldo, The wording difference between the original press reports of the English case and the subsequent clear US claim by the Willy The Wizard people,that Christopher Little was certainly Jacobs' agent, simply must reflect the caution of the English lawyers and the open style of US publishable legal papers.Tell me more when Little is prepared to swear to his evidence before a court of law and not just issue denials through Rowling's PR machine.
Oh for a seat at the Trial!!
Posted by Ben Monash on July 21, 2010 01:35:48AM
Why on earth would they spend millions and eight years of
their lives perpetrating a lie? said Ben Monash
Well Mr. Monash I have got an answer because their claim
is 400 million dollars. That is why they are spending so
much!
Posted by Nikolai on July 21, 2010 06:46:07AM
LittLe was Jacaobs agent accoring to court evidence in the British High Court case documents. He new Jacobs and wined and dined with him
Posted by Brian Johnson on August 6, 2010 05:37:32AM
" However have you thought that maybe the forty odd points of similarity,some new concepts and ideas,plus some gfamiliar or homage concepts ,when combined together in the one plotline and appearing in both books is a rare event and highly indicative of copying? "
Ben, have you bothered to actually read Willy the Wizard????? It's a 38-page book, not a big deal to read. That is if you manage to get through it - it's poorely written crap. Anybody who attempts to read this barely-literate drivel would doubt that someone who can write as well as Rowling would get through the first paragraph of this "book", much less want to steal something from it. Especially as by the time she got to Goblet of Fire, she'd already created the world of Harry Potter...
The common points in the plot that they cite are either common to zillion or so fantasy books or obvious (if a real world has trains, contests and schools, why not wizards)? Not to mention that schools for wizards had been described long before either Jacobs or Rowling. The train is different (actually there was a train taking kids to school that was more similar to Rowling's book in some other boarding school book I don't remember); the contest is different, the bathroom is different. The story itself is different. As to style -- well, read Willy the Wizard. A boy finds out he has magical powers? Now where have I read it before? Maybe some ancient fairy tales? Wizards - ditto. Magic shools - many fantasy books have it.
The whole thing is laughable to anybody who bothers to actually read Jacobs "book".
Additionally, only people who've never had too many ideas of their own believe that multiple people can't come up with similar ideas on their own. As someone who has a number of patents, I lots count to how many times I came up with what I thought was truly original idea and actually worked out number of steps to develop it only to find out that someone else have alrady thought of it before.
It's the execution that matters. You don't patent or copyright "ideas". You patent implementation. You copyright a book, not ideas. I challenge you Ben to come up with a single sentence from Willy the Wizard that is used by Rowling.
Posted by kitty on August 23, 2010 04:41:38PM
really I never heard of these books 9except for Harry Potter) and I don't think that they were ever published.
Posted by Daniel on October 28, 2010 01:28:33PM
Who is Little. Where is he? Why isn't he interviewed. He 'discovered' Rowling. Why then is he hiding away? Is Little honest? There's the rub! What's with all the secrecy if he is so honest?
Posted by Ben on January 9, 2011 01:15:45AM
You wonder why they would spend millions and eight years of their lives on a court case? lol
Because in this world lawsuits are the new way to play the lottery only with better odds.
So, they take a gamble. They sue. It costs them a lot for sure. But, if they win they stand to gain so much. They are trying to get the money for ALL sales of that book. I am not sure if they are also seeking the money for the movie.
I think maybe you are making this more complicated than it is really.
People see something that seems similar to something they own. They immediately feel the only way this could be possible is if this person intentionally stole our work. Hey, lets sue her!!!! Awesome!
I am so tired of hearing of these stupid lawsuits.
Posted by Brad on January 10, 2011 03:35:55PM
If you write a Novelle your are getting your inspiratin from a lot af different storries that already eksist, so even if she did read the book and did use a few things from it as inspiration, it is not nesseserely plagiarism
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