LISNews: Librarian News

ABC News was one of the many sites with this story on Harry Potter.

Nancy K. Stouffer of Camp Hill, Pa., argues in her lawsuit that ideas for the Potter series were lifted from her 1984 book The Legend of Rah and the Muggles, which includes a character named Larry Potter.

“I think coincidences happen, but I still say if it looks like a duck and acts like a duck, it’s a duck,” said Stouffer, who also claims she owns rights to the word “muggle.”
Stouffer filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court on March 6 against Rowling and Scholastic Inc., the U.S. publisher of the Harry Potter books. Her lawsuit also names Time Warner Entertainment Co., which owns the film rights to two of Rowling’s Potter books, and Mattel and Hasbro, both of whom have licenses to create and market related merchandise.

Scholastic, Rowling and Time Warner filed their own lawsuit in November in New York, asking a judge to rule that the Harry Potter books do not violate Stouffer’s trademark and copyright.