Here's something Harry Potter's people would like to make disappear.
Bloomsbury Publishing is rejecting plagiarism charges against cash cow J.K. Rowling. The estate of little-known fantasy writer Adrian Jacobs claims Rowling ripped off the plot of his 1987 book, The Adventures of Willy the Wizard No. 1 Livid Land, for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the fourth entry in her phenomenally successful series.
"Bloomsbury would like to state that this claim is without merit and will be defended vigorously. The allegations of plagiarism made by the estate of Adrian Jacobs are unfounded, unsubstantiated and untrue," the company said in a statement.
So what prompted the legal case?
According to the complaint, filed in 2004 and which is now making its way through London's High Court, the two books both feature wizards traveling on trains and a magical competition featuring a challenge involving a hostage situation (Goblet of Fire climaxes with the Triwizard Tournament, in which Harry saves bestie Ron and another student from the clutches of an underwater creature called a Grindylow).
Jacobs' lawyers also claimed he engaged the services of literary agent Christopher Little, who subsequently went on to represent Rowling.
Bloomsbury argues it has "never heard of Adrian Jacobs," nor was it aware of his work until the suit was filed by his son, four years after Goblet's release and seven years after Jacobs died penniless in a London hospice.
"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," stated the publisher. "The claim was unable to identify any text in the Harry Potter books which was said to copy Willy the Wizard."