Scholastic, Warner Bros. And J.K. Rowling Announce Court’s Rejection Of Harry Potter Infringement Claims

(September l8, 2002 – Burbank, CA and New York, NY) - Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, Scholastic and Warner Bros. were granted summary judgment by the District Court of the Southern District of New York, ruling that J.K. Rowling had not copied any material from, nor infringed any alleged trademarks held by Nancy Stouffer. In its decision, the Court declared that the "publication, distribution, and exploitation of the Harry Potter books does not violate any of Stouffer's intellectual property rights", and ordered that "Stouffer is permanently enjoined from making false representations to third parties indicating that she owns all rights in the 'Muggle' and 'Muggles' trademarks and copyrights, or indicating that plaintiffs have violated her intellectual property rights." Further, the Court noted that a number of the materials claimed by Stouffer to have been copied appeared to have been created or altered after the first Harry Potter book was published. Specifically, the Court found that Stouffer had "perpetrated a fraud on the Court through her submission of fraudulent documents which were willfully altered” as well as through her “untruthful testimony"; and "asserted claims and defenses without any reasonable basis in fact or law and has attempted to support such claims and defenses with items of evidence that have been created or altered for purposes of this litigation." As a result of this misconduct, the Court imposed sanctions on Ms. Stouffer of $50,000.00 and a portion of the attorneys' fees and costs incurred by J.K. Rowling, Scholastic and Warner Bros. The court found this appropriate “given the fact that Stouffer engaged in a pattern of intentional bad faith conduct and failed to correct her fraudulent submissions, even when confronted with evidence undermining the validity of those submissions.” “Warner Bros. is deeply gratified by the court's ruling, which unequivocally affirms that J.K. Rowling alone created the extraordinary and universally beloved Harry Potter,” said Alan Horn, President and Chief Operating Officer, Warner Bros. "We never had any doubt that Harry Potter and his world came from the rich and extraordinary imagination of J.K. Rowling" said Barbara Marcus, President, Scholastic Books. "We are very pleased that the Court's decision has now confirmed what we knew all along." "Ms. Rowling is thrilled to have been vindicated so clearly,” said Christopher Little, J.K. Rowling's agent. “Once and for all Nancy Stouffer's unfounded claims and unscrupulous attempts to exploit Harry’s success have been exposed for what they are--totally bogus and malicious accusations. It is unfortunate that this confirmation of reality had to come through litigation and after hurtful public maligning of Ms. Rowling by Ms. Stouffer.” # # #