Court blocks Harry Potter ‘parody’

HARRY POTTER author JK Rowling won a court battle yesterday to block the Dutch publication of a Russian novel about a girl wizard called Tanya Grotter, after she argued that it copied one of her bestsellers.

Rowling asked an Amsterdam court to stop the publication of the first western edition of The Magic Double Bass, by Dmitry Yemets.

Her lawyer says the work copies her hit book Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone.

Yemets insists his book is a parody, however.

The Harry Potter books, about an English schoolboy wizard, have stormed bestseller lists around the world, and film versions have grossed more than $1.7 billion.

Yemets has sold more than 500,000 books in Russia, spawning radio plays and comic books.

Tanya Grotter and Harry Potter have much in common. Both are orphans, both have strange marks on their faces, and both wield magical powers in battles with an enemy who is too terrible to be named.

Rowling and media giant Time Warner responsible for turning her books into movie hits secured an injunction from Amsterdam District Court to block publication of 7,000 copies of a Dutch translation of Yemets' book by the Netherlands-based publisher Byblos.

"The court orders Byblos to cease and desist from any infringement of Rowling's copyright, including publication of The Magic Double Bass," the judgment said.

The Dutch publisher has the right to appeal the court order.