September 8, 2008, 3:41 pm
‘Harry Potter’ Author Wins Copyright Ruling
By JOHN ELIGON writing in the New York Times.

J. K. Rowling, the author of the “Harry Potter” books, got her wish on Monday when a federal judge blocked a librarian from publishing a guidebook to her bestselling series.

The librarian, Steven Jan Vander Ark, who has the face of a schoolboy and resembles Harry Potter, was trying to publish “The Harry Potter Lexicon,” but Ms. Rowling and Warner Brothers Entertainment, the company that produces the “Harry Potter” movies, sued, citing copyright infringement.
In a 68-page ruling released on Monday, Judge Robert P. Patterson Jr. of United States District Court in Manhattan wrote, “Plaintiffs have shown that the Lexicon copies a sufficient quantity of the Harry Potter series to support a finding of substantial similarity between the Lexicon and Rowling’s novels.”
Judge Patterson also awarded Ms. Rowling and Warner Brothers $6,750 in damages.

Read the full report at the NYT online.