J.K.Rowling Puts Vanishing Spell on Harry Potter Papers as Wizard Court Battle Continues in London

LONDON, May 23, 2011 -

The Trustee of the Estate of late English author Adrian Jacobs announced
he has now met the order of the English Court of Appeal, paying 50,000
sterling into court, enabling the appeal and "Adventures of Willy The Wizard"
copyright breach lawsuit against JK Rowling and her publishers Bloomsbury to
go ahead.

The full trial is scheduled for February 2012.

In October 2010 the High Court rejected JK Rowling's application to
strike out the case against her. The High Court was concerned that despite
requests, JK Rowling had refused to disclose her original manuscripts and
notebooks, which she claimed showed the genesis of Harry Potter.

The Court held that until she disclosed her manuscripts, the Estate could
not evaluate the strength of the case against her. Rather than disclosing
documents, JK Rowling's lawyers obtained a court order requiring the Estate
to pay the author and her publishers over 1.4 million sterling as security.

In April The Trustee appealed, arguing that this vast sum would "stifle"
the lawsuit. "Why has JK Rowling persistently refused to produce her first
Harry Potter manuscripts and famous crammed notebooks?," asks Mr Allen. "Her
lawyers even claimed they no longer exist, and ignored a court deadline to
exchange a list of documents. We have been asking JK Rowling for sight of
these crucial documents for many years". The case alleges that JK Rowling
used Adrian Jacobs' visionary 1987 work "The Adventures of Willy the Wizard"
to develop her Harry Potter series, copying many new expressions of ideas
from Jacobs' work, including Wizard Chess, Wizard Trains & Hospitals, Wizard
Gambling and Newspapers and copied Jacobs' 1987 storyline concept "The year
of wizard contests" when writing Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire
published in 2000.

The dispute casts doubt on JK Rowling's account of creating Harry Potter
on a train. Her literary agent Chris Little claims the first draft chapters
of Harry Potter came from J.K.Rowling in 1995 but the Estate maintains the
manuscript was in his hands at least a year earlier in 1994.

The Estate claims that Little was also Jacobs literary agent.

In July 2011 The Trustee will also ask the Court of Appeal to order the
return of costs spent by the Estate successfully contesting J.K Rowling's
failed attempt to strike out the case.

Paul Allen says: "We welcome the opportunity to prove our case at trial
next February and exposing the inconsistencies in the account of how J.K
Rowling came to write the Harry Potter books."

    Media Enquiries:
    Max Markson
    max@marksonsparks.com
    UK +44(0)7710067299
    Australia +61-412-501-601

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