PermaNews Archive: From Russia, With Love

For some reason, Russia seems to have a love/hate relationship with Harry Potter. Claims of Satanic extremism, putting Putin off with the Dobby debacle, and let's not forget Tanya Grotter! Here's a collection of all the Russian rows from across the sea. You can do your own research to reveal more articles.

Roundup of "plagiarism accusations"
Today's Guardian has a great roundup of authors, writers and artists accused of "copying" someone elses material or taking action over being copied themselves. It includes a list of J.K. Rowling's recent troubles: JK Rowling was accused of violating the intellectual property rights of Nancy K Stouffer, who believed her book The Legend of Rah and the Muggles, published in 1984, was the inspiration for Harry Potter. However, last year a New York court disagreed and fined Ms Stouffer £30,000 for[...]
May 14, 2003 at 7:57 AM; The Leaky Cauldron - Comments (8)

Suit fails to deter 'Potter' copycats
With his boyish blond hair, clear blue eyes and sweet smile, Russian author Dmitry Yemets is disarmingly likable for someone accused of plagiarism. His "Tanya Grotter" book series emerged last year and quickly took off. They don't match Harry Potter's Russian sales of 1.5 million in the last nine months, but he's a significant competitor, selling 600,000 copies in that period. He is also a fast writer. Yemets has published 20 books and it takes him three months to write a 300-page Grotter novel.
April 13, 2003 at 3:11 PM; The Argus - Comments (8)

Publishers to appeal ban on
This week, the Dutch and Russian publishers of the Tanya Grotter books by Dmitri Yemets will appeal an Amsterdam court's decision to stop publication of the books. Alexei Shekhov, spokesman for Russia's Eksmo Publishers, told this to Interfax on Wednesday. On April 3, an Amsterdam court issued an injunction to ban publication of Dmitri Yemets's book "Tanya Grotter and the Magic Double Bass" by the Dutch Byblos Publishers. The court thus satisfied the suit by a British law firm which defended the[...]
April 9, 2003 at 3:41 PM; Godric's Hollow - Comments (5)

Potter beats Grotter
Thanks to the readers who sent us this: JKR has won the court case against Tanya Grotter. Rowling got an injunction from an Amsterdam court to stop publication of the first Western edition of "The Magic Double Bass" by Dmitry Yemets, which her lawyer said copied "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone."One more for the good guys! Grotter's people had this to say: "Tanya Grotter won a moral victory, because the publishers of Harry Potter showed that they were scared of competition," Yemets told[...]
April 3, 2003 at 10:50 AM; The Leaky Cauldron - Comments (5)

Harry Potter vs. Tanya Grotter
Yahoo! News has some good info. on what's going on with the trial of the "Russian version" of HP.
March 26, 2003 at 9:35 PM; iharrypotter.net - Comments (5)

Lawsuit against 'Tanya Grotter' begins
From Ananova: A legal battle has started in an Amsterdam court in a case filed by JK Rowling against a Russian writer alleged to have stolen her ideas. During three hours of dry legal argument, Russian author Dmitry Yemets was accused of "blatantly stealing" the Harry Potter story line, characters and plot for his books, which have already sold more than a million copies in Russia. Read more in Books!
March 25, 2003 at 3:20 PM; iharrypotter.net - Comments (6)

Rowling, AOL Time Warner sue 'Grotter' publisher
British "Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling has accused a Russian writer of copying her work and asked a Dutch court to block publication of one of his books in the Netherlands, her lawyer said on Wednesday. Rowling has asked an Amsterdam court to prevent the publication of the first Western edition of "The Magic Double Bass" by Dmitry Yemets, which her lawyer says copies her hit book "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone." The case is due to be heard on March 25. Click for more!
March 12, 2003 at 3:27 PM; Reuters

Russian politico changes name to Harry Potter, runs for governor
A Russian politician is hoping his new name, Harry Ivanovich Potter, will help him win the election for provincial governor. After previous unsuccessful election campaigns in the Sverdlovsk region, the 32-year-old hoped to enlist a little magical help from the boy wizard by changing his name to Harry Potter. But while Russians can change their family name, but must always have a middle name derived from their father's first name, preventing him from being just plain Harry Potter.
March 2, 2003 at 9:01 PM; The Hogwarts Wire

"Porry Hatter and the Stone Philosopher"
Interfax is reporting that another "Harry Potter" imitation has been published in Russia, but this time it is being viewed as a direct parody, and not plagiarism. The book, entitled "Porry Hatter and the Stone Philosopher", was described as "a real parody created according to all canons of the parody genre. It deliberately grotesquely describes adventures of Porry Hatter, a negative double of Harry Potter, who finds himself in an unusual magic family."
February 4, 2003 at 11:38 AM; The Leaky Cauldron - Comments (3)

Dobby

Dobby, Putin: Separated at Birth?
Did you hear the one about the Russian lawyers threatening to sue Warner Bros. for casting Harry Potter house elf Dobby in the image of Vladimir Putin? Yes, just what the world needs now: a funny international crisis. "I don't think I'd have noticed it if it hadn't been pointed out, but, yes, there is a certain resemblance. To me, it's mostly cute and not at all insulting," wrote one poster on the soc.culture.russian newsgroup. "If I were Putin, I'd buy a Dobby doll and put it on my desk."[...]
January 31, 2003 at 12:31 PM; E! Online - Browse 6 Dobby pictures

Dobby

Indignant Russians object to President's elfin double
Some of you guys who commented on the Putin/Dobby article were quoted in The Globe and Mail: "How dare the mean bourgeois mock our President?" wrote "Denis," posting on a newsgroup about Putin. "That domestic elf masochist . . . externally reminds me very much of Putin." If Mr. Putin's poll numbers can be taken seriously, so can those compiled by CBBC, a children's Web site run by the British Broadcasting Corp. With almost 5,500 votes cast as of last night, 54 per cent saw the resemblance[...]
January 23, 2003 at 12:01 PM; MuggleNet - Browse 6 Dobby pictures - Comments (1)

Dobby

Potter lookalikes cause problems in politics
Get this: Dobby the house-elf could be taken to court because some people think he looks like the Russian president. They are angry because they think the filmmakers deliberately modelled Dobby on the face of Russia's boss, Vladimir Putin. A Russian newspaper has even reported lawyers are preparing a legal case against the special effects people who created Dobby. But so far there's not been an official comment on the matter from the President. Dobby, who first appears in Harry Potter and the[...]
January 20, 2003 at 2:31 PM; CBBC Newsround - Browse 6 Dobby pictures

Moscow: No Criminal Case Against 'Harry Potter'
The Moscow prosecutor's office will not pursue a criminal case based on allegations that J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series incites religious hatred. The office issued the December 31 decision after investigating a complaint filed by a representative of the International Foundation for Slavic Literature against Rosman Publishing, the Russian publishers of the series.
January 18, 2003 at 3:31 AM; School Library Journal

BBC News: Russia Rejects Potter Ban
Russian school pupils will continue to be able to read about Harry Potter's adventures, after an attempt to have the books banned was rejected.
December 31, 2002 at 1:01 PM; The Leaky Cauldron - Comments (2)

Russians clear Harry Potter of hate crimes
Prosecutors in Moscow have decided that Harry Potter books don't incite religious hatred. An investigation was launched after claims the books "contained signs of religious extremism". There were also claims they were "drawing students into religious groups of a Satanic type".
December 31, 2002 at 10:31 AM; Ananova

Russia rejects Potter ban
Russian school pupils will continue to be able to read about Harry Potter's adventures, after an attempt to have the books banned was rejected. A Slavic cultural organisation had alleged that the stories about magic and wizard could draw students into Satanism. But on Tuesday the prosecutor's office in Moscow, which had investigated the claim, said that it would not be taking forward the allegations.
December 31, 2002 at 7:31 AM; BBC

More about the Moscow prosecutors' investigation
An update on the news from Moscow. Moscow prosecutors have opened an investigation into whether the Harry Potter series of children's books incite religious hatred, an official said Wednesday. The spokeswoman for the prosecutors' office said that the investigation is one that it is required under law to conduct when a request is filed.
December 26, 2002 at 7:01 AM; The Leaky Cauldron - Comments (1)

Harry goes on trial in Russia for promoting the occult
Harry Potter could go on trial for promoting religious hatred. Lawyers are investigating the books, which some parents claim promote wizardry as a religion. Prosecutors in Russia will decide whether any criminal charges will be filed after a complaint by a Moscow woman. JK Rowling's books are hugely popular in the country and the writer's publishers are threatening to sue over a highly similar local version, Tanya Grotter.
December 26, 2002 at 1:01 AM; The Hogwarts Wire

Harry Potter 'insulting'
A Russian woman is seeking to sue the Moscow publishers of Harry Potter, alleging the children's novels offend her religious feelings and incite to black magic, news agencies have reported. "It is still too early to talk of opening a legal investigation," a spokesman of the state attorney's office said. The department was still examaining whether the complaint was admissible.
December 26, 2002 at 12:01 AM; news.com.au

Wizard 'Potter' in hate inquiry
Prosecutors in Russia are investigating whether the "Harry Potter" series of books incite religious hatred. Svetlana Petrenko, a spokeswoman for the Moscow city prosecutor's office told The Associated Press, the inquiry was set up after a complaint from a woman in Moscow. The Rosman publishing house, which has the license for "Harry Potter" books in Russia, said it was "baffled" by the investigation. Petrenko gave no further details but the Interfax news agency reported the complainant believed[...]
December 25, 2002 at 3:31 PM; CNN

Harry Potter sparks row in Russia
Some people claim the books are anti-Christian
December 25, 2002 at 10:31 AM; CBBC Newsround

Russian prosecutor launches investigation into Harry Potter
December 24, 2002 at 8:01 AM; Ananova

Prosecutors consider opening an investigation of Harry Potter
Moscow-based Rosman publishing house has published Russian-language editions of all four of J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books. The books have sold 3.5 million copies. The Moscow city prosecutor's office confirmed a report in Moskovsky Komsomolets that Alexandrov is studying whether the books violate Article 282 of the Criminal Code, which deals with instigation of ethnic, racial or religious enmity. Violators, if convicted, face up to five years in prison.
December 23, 2002 at 7:31 PM; Moscow Times

"Harry Potter" under investigation?
From The Moscow Times: "The Moscow city prosecutor's office is considering opening an investigation into the popular Harry Potter books after an Orthodox believer lodged a complaint that they discredit Christianity ..."
December 23, 2002 at 6:31 PM; The Leaky Cauldron - Comments (1)

Moscow Investigating Potter?
Prosecutors in Moscow are considering opening an investigation into the books after someone filed a report that condemed them for discrediting Christianity. Thanks to Leaky for the link.
December 23, 2002 at 1:50 PM; iharrypotter.net - Comments (1)

Grotter and Potter
Dmitry Yemets, the author of the Russian parody of the Harry Potter series, Tanya Grotter, has been accused of plagiarising JK Rowling's work; JK's lawyers threaten legal action if the book is not withdrawn by November 10. "One hero is an orphan with secret magical powers who wears glasses, flies around and has a strange scar on his forehead, the other is an orphan who wears glasses, flies, has secret magical powers and a strange mole on her nose. The first is Harry Potter, whose tales have sold[...]
November 6, 2002 at 8:56 AM; UKHarryPotter - Comments (2)

Lawyers ward off Harry Potter imitators
Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery but not when it comes to the Harry Potter juggernaut. While the world eagerly awaits the fifth instalment of J.K. Rowling's phenomenally successful series about the boy wizard, agents for the British author -- who has been suspected of having writer's block -- are being kept busy threatening legal action against bogus and plagiarized copies of the books from Russia to China. The most recent target is a young Russian author, Dimitri Yemetz, who has[...]
September 20, 2002 at 2:12 AM; Inside Harry Potter - Comments (1)

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