# Was the H. Potter plagerism suit ever settled? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 30, 2005, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-h-potter-plagerism-suit-ever-settled/287422 "2005-01-30T12:30:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2005, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-h-potter-plagerism-suit-ever-settled/287422/1 "2005-01-30T12:30:23Z")
A few years back a woman was sueing claiming that the Harry Potter books had been plagerised from a book that she wrote. Does anyone remember the suit? Do you know if it was ever settled? Who won? ---
**Author:** ![aegypt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/76d3ee/32.png) [@aegypt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aegypt)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2005, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-h-potter-plagerism-suit-ever-settled/287422/2 "2005-01-30T13:04:48Z")
Rowling won. More details can be found here: [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/2268024.stm](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/2268024.stm) " Ms Stouffer accused Rowling of lifting the term Muggles, a name given to non-magical humans in Harry Potter but used to describe mythical characters in her book which was published in the mid-80s. In Stouffer’s The Legend of Rah and the Muggles, which features a character named Larry Potter, the muggles are little people who care for two orphaned boys who magically turn their dark homeland into a happy place. She also claimed to have written a colouring book entitled Larry Potter and His Best Friend Lilly. But a summary judgement by the District Court of the Southern District of New York ruled that Ms Stouffer lied to the court and doctored evidence to support her claims. " ---
**Author:** ![aegypt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/76d3ee/32.png) [@aegypt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aegypt)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2005, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-h-potter-plagerism-suit-ever-settled/287422/3 "2005-01-30T13:06:08Z")
Oh, and that suit was one of the reasons why book number five was delayed… ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2005, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-h-potter-plagerism-suit-ever-settled/287422/4 "2005-01-30T22:37:22Z")
The article didn’t get it quite right - “The Legend of Rah and the Muggles” was a completely separate book from “Larry Potter.” I don’t think the “Larry Potter” books ever saw publication; “The Legend of Rah and the Muggles” has been published twice, both times by vanity presses. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2005, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-h-potter-plagerism-suit-ever-settled/287422/5 "2005-01-31T01:05:32Z")
> [@Jeep's Phoenix](#): > > The article didn’t get it quite right - “The Legend of Rah and the Muggles” was a completely separate book from “Larry Potter.” I don’t think the “Larry Potter” books ever saw publication; “The Legend of Rah and the Muggles” has been published twice, both times by vanity presses. It’s even worse than that: AFAIK (and I’ve been following this case), Larry never had a last name in the original books. When Stouffer arranged to have them published to cash in on the whole plagiarism scandal (along with “Legend of Rah and the Muggles,” a truly atrocious book), she added “Potter” to Larry’s name. The original book (which I don’t believe was published prior to the scandal) was called “Larry and His Best Friend Lilly.” For that matter, I believe the original vanity-press publication of “The Legend of Rah and the Muggles” was titled “The Legend of RAH.”