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'Goblet of Fire'

Dead author's estate sues 'Harry Potter' for infrigement  
The estate of author Adrian Jacobs sued Bloomsbury today for lifting storylines and events from his "Willy the Wizard" series in JK Rowling's "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire." Bloomsbury has provided HPANA with a comprehensive response from their perspective.
Source: PR Newswire
Posted by Cheeser on Jun 15, 2009 at 1:10 PM

J.K. Rowling

Update: Judge in Rowling case urges settlement again; JKR issues statement  
During today's court proceedings in New York between RDR Books and Warner Bros. and "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling, the judge once again urged a settlement amongst the parties involved. Judge Robert P. Patterson stated that "...this case, with imagination, could be settled." Update: Following today's event author J.K. Rowling has issued a new statement.
Source: MSNBC.com
Posted by Geri on Apr 16, 2008 at 1:44 PM

'Potter' books to stay on Georgia library bookshelves  
In a year long battle to remove the "Harry Potter" books from the shelves of the Gwinnett Public Schools in Georgia, Laura Mallory, who has not read the books, may appeal the decision after it was announced this morning that the books will stay on library bookshelves.
Source: Associated Press
Posted by Geri on Dec 14, 2006 at 11:53 AM

School board cements 'Potter' position    
A challenge to remove all of JK Rowling's Harry Potter books from the library shelves of Gwinnett Public Schools in Georgia has failed. The school board there voted Thursday to keep the books available. It was the final action for a petition that began in November and culminated at an April clash in which nearly 100 people attended to voice their opinions.
Source: Gwinnett Daily Post via Yahoo! News
Posted by Cheeser on May 12, 2006 at 3:52 AM

'Potter' comes off challenged book list  
For the first time in five years, JK Rowling's "Harry Potter" books did not make the American Library Association's list of most challenged books. "Not every book is right for every person, but providing a wide range of reading choices is vital for learning, exploration and imagination," said ALA president Carol Brey-Casiano. A challenge is defined as a written request to have materials removed from a school or public library because of perceived inappropriateness.
Source: ALA via Wizard News
Posted by Cheeser on Feb 17, 2005 at 12:48 AM

Nancy Stouffer ruling upheld    
A $50,000 sanction and dismissal of claims against Harry Potter from challenger Nancy Stouffer has been upheld by a federal appeals court. Stouffer had claimed that Warner Bros., JK Rowling and Scholastic violated her purported trademark rights of the word "Muggle" from an unsuccessful series of children's booklets created in the 1980s. Now she has been ordered to pay attorney's fees for both the original case and the appeal.
Source: Entertainment Law Digest
Posted by Cheeser on Jan 29, 2004 at 10:01 AM

Banned Books Week    
Banned Books week approaches, and with it follows all of the benefits of mass opposition to censorship or attempted censorship - public read-ins of some of the most challenged works, open display of vilified novels by libraries and bookstores. This article ties together the many messages of this week, the mistakes that have been made, and progress toward the future of a free intellectual democracy. This is fitting with the many successful and failed attempts of censorship that have hit the Harry Potter novel and fandom.
Source: Dover Community News via The Leaky Cauldron
Posted by James on Sep 19, 2003 at 10:41 PM

Potter tops list of challenged books    
Harry Potter leads a list of the most challenged literature in America, drawing hundreds of complaints from almost exclusively religious sects or individuals this year. While the Harry Potter series is the most obvious example of a series whose right to be placed in a school or public library setting is debated, other books draw attempts of censorship from nearly as many sources.
Source: Tulare Advance-Register via Wizard News
Posted by James on Sep 6, 2003 at 1:02 PM

Book burning and consequences  
Southern Vermont College professor Catherine Burns pens an articulately styled piece on book-burning and the effects it entails for any person, young or old: '...millions of imaginations would be stifled, having been deprived of the freedom of literature.' Burns warns of the increasing regularity of this practice by extreme political and religious group.
Source: Bennington Banner via The Leaky Cauldron
Posted by James on Sep 4, 2003 at 9:30 PM

Professors: Censorship of fantasy stories misguided  
Professors John Carney and Todd DeMitchell are of the common opinion that the Harry Potter series, if anything, encourage even the most reluctant readers to delve into the book's pages. They support the notion that attempts by parents to control many aspects of a children's reading habits and to censor those they feel dwell in dangerous moral territory is misguided and harmful to a child's intellectual and educational development.
Source: Dover Community News via Wizard News
Posted by James on Jul 25, 2003 at 4:05 PM

Lawyer reveals details of Arkansas trial  
Attorney Brian Meadors fought against a decision in Cedarville, Arkansas public schools to require permission to check out Harry Potter books from the library. After winning, he details the fight.
Source: KPOM via Wizard News
Posted by James on Jul 25, 2003 at 11:09 AM

Conservative Australian school bans Harry  
"The Potter books portray and promote witchcraft as normal," said principal Bert Langerak of Maranatha Christian College in Australia. "It's a problem because as Christians we would say witchcraft and that kind of thing is not good, and yet Rowling portrays it as being good." His solution: Potter off the shelves.
Source: Herald Sun via iharrypotter.net
Posted on Jul 2, 2003 at 11:44 AM

Holocaust Museum's 10th anniversary includes Harry Potter  
Geri found another story and sent in this: "The Holocaust Museum is marking its 10th year with a display on book burning that includes images from a New Mexico town where Harry Potter books were torched by people who said they teach children to become witches." Click for more.
Source: Yahoo! News
Posted on Apr 29, 2003 at 5:30 PM

Cedarville's 'Potter' pickle pricey  
It cost Cedarville Schools $13,750 to keep Harry Potter under wraps for a few months. U.S. District Judge Jimm Hendren ruled Tuesday the school infringed upon the rights of students by demanding that parents present the librarian with written permission before children could check out books from the popular series. Click for a round-up of the finale, including a great quote from the Mayor of Cedarville (I'm being sarcastic).
Source: Southwest Times Record via Moreover
Posted on Apr 25, 2003 at 7:01 PM

School mulls appeal of Harry Potter ruling  
A lawyer for the school district that restricted access to Harry Potter books says he plans to advise the school to put the books back on library shelves. David Hogue says he may make that call today, although the Cedarville School District hasn't decided whether to appeal a court order to make the books available. Meanwhile, free speech advocates are celebrating Tuesday's ruling. Click for full story.
Source: KARK TV via Moreover
Posted on Apr 24, 2003 at 6:32 PM

Judge orders Harry Potter back onto shelves  
A federal judge Tuesday ordered books from the Harry Potter series back onto an Arkansas school district's library shelves, rejecting a school board's claim that tales of wizards and spells would harm school children. This is the story I brought you in March on HPANA (click on Related Stories or the articles below). Read the thrilling conclusion here.
Source: AP via Florida Times-Union via Moreover
Posted on Apr 22, 2003 at 9:01 PM

Resident calls for removal of 'Harry Potter'  
Another religious zealot has struck, this time in Fair Haven, Connecticut: Be careful what you read in the library. That children's book might be the first step toward selling your soul to Satan. At least, that is what Antonio Rivera thinks. At a recent Board of Education meeting, Rivera, a resident of Fair Haven, requested that the popular "Harry Potter" series be removed from city schools.
Source: Yale Daily News via Moreover
Posted on Apr 3, 2003 at 7:01 AM

Some churches want schools to ban "Harry Potter"  
The New Haven Register [Connecticut, US] reports that members of several city churches want the "Harry Potter" series banned from school libraries and reading lists.
Source: The Leaky Cauldron
Posted on Mar 31, 2003 at 11:50 AM

Harry Potter gains support in AK  
A few days ago, I posted about the Counts kids leaving their school district that had banned Harry Potter. The parents of Dakota Counts, a fourth-grader at Cedarville Elementary claimed the Cedarville school board violated federal law when it put the Harry Potter books on a restricted borrowing list, which requires written parental permission to access the series. Well, briefs have been filed by several big groups and it's now up to a judge to decide how to move forward.
Source: School Library Journal via Moreover
Posted on Mar 19, 2003 at 5:31 AM

JK tries to stop new versions of Grotter  
JK Rowling tries to stop Dutch versions of the Russian Grotter books from being released.
Source: CBBC Newsround
Posted on Mar 14, 2003 at 9:31 AM