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Harry Potter publisher denies plagiarism claim
Reuters ^ | 06/15/09 | Mike Collett-White

Posted on 06/15/2009 4:15:21 PM PDT by Artemis Webb

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."

(snip)

"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."

(snip)

"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.

(snip)

"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.

(snip)

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."

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: denial; harrypotter; plagiarism
The "Estate of Adrian Jacobs" must smell money but it sounds like their claim is about as thin as 36 pages vs 752 pages.
1 posted on 06/15/2009 4:15:21 PM PDT by Artemis Webb
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To: Artemis Webb

Did Willy the Wizard turn out to be gay too?


2 posted on 06/15/2009 4:19:15 PM PDT by avg_freeper (Gunga galunga. Gunga, gunga galunga)
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To: Artemis Webb

Took an awful long time to notice this. And a huge full book was “copied” from a 36 page “booklet”? It’s pretty hard to argue for “copied” when the source was so small and they don’t even seem to be saying that any exact text matches up. Rather they seem to be saying that their are merely similarities in the plot. But it sounds like there’s some fairly large differences too.

Pretty thin.


3 posted on 06/15/2009 4:22:53 PM PDT by Ramius (Personally, I give us... one chance in three. More tea?)
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To: avg_freeper
"Did Willy the Wizard turn out to be gay too?"

No and neither did Harry. Wow another similarity! /s

4 posted on 06/15/2009 4:27:34 PM PDT by Artemis Webb
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To: Artemis Webb

Even more amazing is that Rowling managed to insert all the major similar elements in her books previous to Goblet of Fire so that when it came up in the fourth book, it all made sense.


5 posted on 06/15/2009 4:33:12 PM PDT by Dianna (Obama Barbie: Governing is hard.)
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To: avg_freeper
Willy the Wizard. LOL
6 posted on 06/15/2009 4:34:53 PM PDT by dragonblustar ("... and if you disagree with me, then you sir, are worse than Hitler!" - Greg Gutfeld)
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To: Artemis Webb
"No and neither did Harry. Wow another similarity! /s"

So, you're saying the author J. K. Rowling did not reveal that dumble-"twinkletoes"-dore, a "wizard" in the story, was gay?

Numerous times?

At Carnegie Hall no less?

7 posted on 06/15/2009 4:36:23 PM PDT by avg_freeper (Gunga galunga. Gunga, gunga galunga)
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To: avg_freeper

No I’m denying the central and title character in the book turned out to be gay. If you can’t write a sentence with specificity that is not my problem.


8 posted on 06/15/2009 4:40:37 PM PDT by Artemis Webb
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To: Ramius

I’m sure that anyone who writes fiction, must realize that original thought is somewhat few and far between.

It would seem that some correlation would pop up with just about any topic you wished to invent.

My wife will vouch for the fact that I have talked to her about products and original ideas I’ve had, only to see them developed almost identically along the lines of what I had previously mentioned.

I think it’s interesting. Perhaps I should write papers, and then try to cash in like others seem to. Nah, no thanks.


9 posted on 06/15/2009 4:43:10 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (Obama post 09/11. The U.S. is sorry, we are a Muslim nation, and we surrender.)
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To: Artemis Webb
"No I’m denying the central and title character in the book turned out to be gay. If you can’t write a sentence with specificity that is not my problem."
LOL! Exactly how many gay wizards are you currently tasked with keeping track of? Is there a database?
10 posted on 06/15/2009 7:03:12 PM PDT by avg_freeper (Gunga galunga. Gunga, gunga galunga)
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To: avg_freeper

Actually it was you, on post #2, who brought up homosexuality. This thread had nothing to do with it. This thread was about a plagiarism accusation. This means that YOU are the one with the interest (obsession, closet feelings, desires) regarding homosexuality.

Nice try. Thanks for playing.


11 posted on 06/15/2009 7:09:18 PM PDT by Artemis Webb
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To: Artemis Webb
Actually it was you, on post #2, who brought up homosexuality. This thread had nothing to do with it. This thread was about a plagiarism accusation. This means that YOU are the one with the interest (obsession, closet feelings, desires) regarding homosexuality.

Nice try. Thanks for playing.

I was indicating that there was only one character in the novels that the author later revealed was gay. Not a number so large that someone would ridiculously need to keep track of them. Or that someone would need to explicitly specify the one particular character in the novels that the author revealed was gay.

I didn't indicate you are gay and that wasn't the intention of any of my posts.

I was being humorous, at least attempting. The means and method of that attempt wasn't your thing, obviously. I get it.

Have the last word and a good night.

12 posted on 06/15/2009 7:34:31 PM PDT by avg_freeper (Gunga galunga. Gunga, gunga galunga)
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To: DoughtyOne
I think it’s interesting. Perhaps I should write papers, and then try to cash in like others seem to. Nah, no thanks.

Yah, just like when I was five years old and I designed and invented the Jet-Pak, a rocket-powered backpack... only to see my idea stolen by the producers of Thunderball. Those bastards. :-) I swear it was my idea.

13 posted on 06/15/2009 11:22:19 PM PDT by Ramius (Personally, I give us... one chance in three. More tea?)
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To: dragonblustar

Yes, it was about a young wizard from Little Rock, Arkansas. He had a magic El Camino with enchanted Astroturf in the bed. (That and a wee problem with a bent wand.)


14 posted on 06/15/2009 11:27:55 PM PDT by Redcloak ("Oh, bother!" said Pooh, as he chambered his last round.)
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To: Ramius

LOL, yep, there you go...

Remember, document everything! ;-)


15 posted on 06/16/2009 9:29:07 AM PDT by DoughtyOne (Obama post 09/11. The U.S. is sorry, we are a Muslim nation, and we surrender.)
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