Rowling wins plagiarism court case

JK Rowling has won a court battle against a rival children's author who claimed key ingredients of the Harry Potter novels were plagiarised.

Pennsylvania writer Nancy Stouffer said that "Muggles", the name wizards give to humans who have no magical abilities in Harry Potter, was originally used to describe mythical characters in her books.

But a New York court threw out the claims, which were first made against Rowling, her US publisher Scholastic, and movie producer Warner Bros in 1999.

"Publication, distribution and exploitation of the Harry Potter books does not violate any of Stouffer's intellectual property rights," said a summary judgement by the District Court of the Southern District of New York.

It also ruled that Stouffer had lied to the court and doctored evidence to support her claims.

The court fined Stouffer £30,000 for this "pattern of intentional bad faith conduct" and ordered her to pay a portion of the defendant's costs.

"Ms Rowling is thrilled to have been vindicated so clearly," said her agent, Christopher Little.

Barbara Marcus, president of Scholastic Books, said: "We never had any doubt that Harry Potter and his world came from the rich and extraordinary imagination of JK Rowling."

Stouffer had alleged that the word muggles was stolen from her mid-Eighties book The Legend of Rah and the Muggles.

She also claimed to have written a colouring book entitled Larry Potter and His Best Friend Lilly.