Mark Engelman to act in Harry Potter plagiarism trial

Hardwicke’s Mark Engelman, acting for the estate of the late Mr Adrian Jacobs, successfully defended against JK Rowling’s and Bloomsbury Publishing Plc’s attempt to dismiss an action for copyright infringement of his work Willy the Wizard by the publication of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.  Mark Engelman’s client is Paul Allen, the trustee of Adrian Jacobs’s estate.
 
Adrian Jacobs wrote Willy the Wizard in 1987,  a story about a wizard contest which the court found to contain features similar to those in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire conceived by JK Rowling in 1990. Both JK Rowling and Adrian Jacobs are said to be have shared the same literary agent, Christopher Little. 

Paul Allen’s action against JK Rowling and Bloomsbury Publishing Plc now proceeds to a full trial which will take place next year.