Harry Potter UK publishers Bloomsbury are currently under investigation by the estate of a late author, Adrian Jacobs. The estate claims that the fourth Harry Potter book,
Goblet of Fire, took storylines from Jacobs' booklet entitled
The Adventures of Willy the Wizard -- No 1 Livid Land. Bloomsbury is denying allegations, as stated in the
press release.
Bloomsbury states that:
Quote:
"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."
The estate argues that key plot points were taken from Jacobs' book and used in
Goblet of Fire:
Quote:
"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.
There is a mention that Jo Rowling has never even heard of the Willy the Wizard book:
Quote:
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 publicised 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."
We will have much more on this as it is released.