Author Claims Bloomsbury Stole Plotline for Goblet of Fire

[rattlesnakeroot]

This is one for the scrapbook!

Or perhaps the "What goes around comes around X-Files."

The estate of a deceased writer named Adrian Jacobs is claiming that Bloomsbury Publishing and J. K. Rowling stole the plot of his book The Adventures of Willy the Wizard -- No 1 Livid Land.

According to Reuters a statement from Bloomsbury said:

The allegations

Comments

[rattlesnakeroot]

Yeah, but I admit I am intrigued that this man actually had dealings with Christopher Little. What that means is that he might have had that booklet in his office when another Wizarding book floated in from JKR.

Other authors who have cried plagiarism towards JKR had no such dealings with Bloomsbury, which was JKR's original publisher. There was the American "Rah and the Muggles" case which was against Scholastic and WB, not Bloomsbury. JKR won that:
BBC Story: Rowling wins Potter plagiarism case

Nancy Stouffer alleged that JKR stole the name "Harry Potter" from her character "Larry Potter."

In that case, I believe that JKR proved she had never seen the book in question, plus the author of the book was charged with falsifying documents and charged $30,000.

This case is just a little different in that the author died before the HP books were ever published. And not to start any theories going wild, but JKR has talked about her stuggles with GoF and the fact she had to almost rewrite it from scratch, even drinking herself to sleep because she couldn't cope with the pressure. It's just sort of weird that they are focusing on that book.

[rattlesnakeroot]

Here is one of the interviews in which JKR mentions how difficult it was for her writing GoF:

BBC Interview 2003

The press kept reporting that she had problems with OotP, when really it was GoF.

And here's another quote about it:

BBC Newsround 2000

Last time we spoke you said there'd be a Weasley cousin. It didn't appear. You've deceived me!

JKR: It got pulled. Sorry about that. What happened on Book Four, and one of the reasons why it was easily the most difficult to write, which had absolutely nothing to do with Harry being famous or me being famous, was that for the first time my plan fell down. I got halfway through and realised there was a huge gaping plot hole. The two ends just didn't meet. It was entirely my own fault: I should have had the sense to go through it very carefully before I started writing. So I had to do an enormous amount of unpicking and in the process I'm afraid the Weasley cousin disappeared.

Will we see her again?

JKR: Possibly. I really like her as a character but it's quite a complex plot I'm dealing with so I'm not sure that she'll fit anywhere else. She'll be the "character that might have been."

[lunas_ceiling]

Did she really claim that she drank herself to sleep? I know she has claimed that she was using nicorette and smoking, giving her jitters I guess. The Bloomsbury connection would certainly add a connection but dare I say we will never see JKR on the stand while someone uses word counts and pie charts of doom to make a case of infringement against her. The irony would be delicious however.