Willy Wizard takes on Harry Potter in U.S. court

The estate of Adrian Jacobs, who authored the 1987 book "The Adventures of Willy the Wizard," has filed a lawsuit in New York district court against Scholastic Inc., publisher of "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire." The lawsuit claims that J.K. Rowling misappropriated copyrighted elements from Jacobs' book.

The estate filed a similar lawsuit last year in England against Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, the UK publisher of the Harry Potter franchise.

Jacobs estate trustee Paul Allen said in a statement the estate is contemplating legal action in key territories worldwide and the "USA being the world's largest market for Potter books means that our first overseas action is brought here in America."

The plaintiff is seeking an injunction against further sale of the "Goblet" book, destruction of remaining inventory of the books, and profits from lucrative sales.

via Willy Wizard takes on Harry Potter in U.S. court | Reuters.

Adrian was always making up stories for the children of visiting friends; one day he made up a story about a boy wizard who looked back at his time in wizard college and recalled adventures. This story was so well received that Adrian was encouraged by friends and family to write it down. In 1987 The Adventures of Willy the Wizard  was published.

With many ideas including:

•  The Year of Wizards’ Contests - the central theme of The Adventures of Willy the Wizard
•  Stories and reminiscences of wizards college
•  Parallel worlds of real places and wizard magic
•  Wizard trains where Wizard Chess is played
•  The theme of alcohol brewing villages
•  Gambling wizards
•  Wizards prison
•  Wizards needing to earn money
•  The central character of an empowered child wizard
•  Wizard special Hospitals

We really hope you enjoy the book.

http://www.willythewizard.com/

Well, it could just be a coincidence... says Xeno, the owner of Xenophilia.com for seven years before Harry Potter was published ...  who created xenophilius.org after enjoying the similarities between himself and the character Xenophilius Lovegood in the last Harry Potter book. (Bonus: a tall good looking musician was selected to play Xeno in the last two Harry Potter movies.)

Xeno's Law of Unique Ideas: "Most everything you will ever think of has already been thought of ... and acted upon. "

This is itself a restatement of "There is nothing new under the sun."

The trick is to recognize when you've got something, because you CAN discover something new. You can do something powerful which has never been done before:

"Surely you don't believe Eccl. 1:9 RSV ("What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing new under the sun")? How many cities had an atomic bomb dropped on them prior to 1945, and how many people walked on the moon before 1969?" - link

I think there is a good reason JK Rowling is a billionaire. She creates great characters and tells great stories.  There were stories of Wizards way before Willy Wizard.  The Wizard's Apprentice is from 1930: