Rowling, Warner sue Indian community over Hogwarts replica
The Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry has turned to the Indian legal system to protect its entryways.
J.K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, her publisher Bloomsbury and Warner Brothers, makers of the Potter movies, are suing a community group in India for recreating the school for wizards.
An elaborate Hogwarts castle made from canvas and papier mâché has been created in the eastern city of Kolkata for the upcoming Durga Puja festival, a significant Hindu religious festival.
The community group that created the replica is in a quandary after being summoned to a Delhi high court in a copyright infringement suit seeking two million rupees ($50,140 Cdn) for permission to show the castle.
In Rowling's books, Hogwarts is traditionally protected by magical spells. In this case, the size of the fine may be enough to deter the group.
"We had no clue that we had to seek permission from the author," Santanu Biswas, a representative of the community group, told Reuters, adding that the group does not have the money to pay the fine.
The group had also hired artists to create a replica of the Hogwarts Express, the train that Harry Potter and his young wizard friends take to the school, as well as life-sized models of the main figures in the best-selling series of books.
The group has spent about $30,000 for its replica, called a pandal.
"It's just a theme.… We have also modelled the Titanic and no-one sued us," said another organizer, Robin Mukherjee.
A lawyer will act for the group in Delhi in a hearing scheduled for Friday.
Artists from communities all over India are creating more than 10,000 pandals, including a statue of the 10-armed goddess Durga sitting on a lion and stabbing a demon emerging from a buffalo, for the festival.
People from all over the country visit Kolkata during the festival, to begin Oct. 17.
It is considered a matter of great pride and honour for local communities if their pandals are praised.
