Harry Potter plagiarism claims

Legal action was filed last week against JK Rowling, accusing the Harry Potter author of plagiarising from the, now deceased, author Adrian Jacobs.

The estate of the late author, who died of a heart attack in 1997, first accused Ms Rowling in 2004. Bloomsbury last year denied the accusations calling them “unfounded and untrue”.

Adrian Jacobs who was declared bankrupt in 1991 had his book The Adventures of Willy the Wizard No 1: Livid Land self-published in 1987. The story centralised around an “empowered child wizard” includes colleges of wizardry, wizards travelling on trains (which lawyers say inspired the Hogwarts Express) and wizard tournaments. These are the elements in which lawyers for the estate of Mr Jacobs are expected to present in court to sue Ms Rowling and her publishers.

JK Rowling speaking out against the accusations said she planned to ask the court to dismiss the legal action as she had never read Mr Jacobs book or even heard of it before the accusations emerged in 2004. She said she felt saddened at the case and that the "claims that are made are not only unfounded but absurd and I am disappointed that I, and my UK publisher Bloomsbury, are put in a position to have to defend ourselves.”

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