Harry Potter Rival Struck Down in Court

By Stephen M. Silverman

Thursday April 03, 2003 01:50 PM EST

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It took more than a magic spell to defeat the Dutch publication of a Russian novel about a girl wizard named "Tanya Grotter" -- but Harry Potter has done it again.

J.K. Rowling, the British author of the massively popular boy-wizard book series, has emerged victorious in an Amsterdam court after suing to halt publication of the first Western edition of "Tanya Grotter and the Magic Double Bass" by Dmitry Yemets, which Rowling's camp claims is a rip-off of her book "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone."

In his defense, Yemets -- who in his native Russia has spawned a veritable Grotter cottage industry, spurred by the sale of more than 500,000 Grotter books -- argued that his work is a parody.

Still, Rowling, 37, had her own industry to protect. "Harry Potter" books and movies have so far grossed more than $1.7 billion internationally, reports Reuters. So she and AOL Time Warner (which produced the "Potter" movie and also owns PEOPLE) secured an injunction from Amsterdam District Court to block publication of 7,000 copies of a Dutch translation of Yemets's book by Dutch publisher Byblos.

According to the judgment handed down Thursday, "The court orders Byblos to cease and desist from any infringement of Rowling's copyright," including publication of "The Magic Double Bass."

The Dutch publisher reportedly has the right to appeal.