Rowling casts Evil Eye on Hindi festival

A Hindi community is being targetted by Warner Bros and the Rowling estate for infringement because they’re building a huge model of the Hogwarts school.

The finishing touches are being applied to thousands of similar structures, known as pandals, across Calcutta and elsewhere in India. Many of them touch on popular themes and the BBC’s Chris Morris in Delhi says copyright has never been an issue before.

Aha, but they didn’t reckon on Rowling. She who blocked the Wizards d20 Harry Potter RPG because “she would be the only one telling Harry Potter stories” and vociferously defends her copyright even though:

Many people have noticed similarities between Timothy Hunter — a bespectacled English teenager with family troubles, a scar on his forehead and who has a magical owl as a pet — and the later and more famous Harry Potter. Neil Gaiman has been quoted as saying that while there are similarities between the two they are largely superficial and most likely reflect the fact that both draw on common archetypes.Wikipedia Link

…which is Gaiman saying “She’s got shitloads more money than me”.