What a BWitch

J. K. Rowling to US Army: "I'll get you my pretty, and your little dog too!"

Lawyers acting for J K Rowling are heading for a legal battle with the US army over a training manual that features characters similar to those in the Harry Potter books and films.

They are examining whether the publication, which has been distributed to soldiers at US army bases around the world, breaches copyright rules. Harry Potter?s intellectual property is owned by the author and the images are owned by the film company Warner Bros.

The magazine, The Preventive Maintenance Monthly, includes a cartoon character called Topper, a boy wizard, who attends Mogmarts school of magic. Harry Potter, Rowling?s boy wizard creation, attends the Hogwarts school of magic.

In the magazine, army officials are given a lesson from Professor Rumbledoore and his staff, a name strikingly similar to Rowling?s Professor Dumbledore. Other characters in the magazine include professors McDonagal and Snappy, and a Miss Ranger. The Harry Potter books feature professors McGonagall and Snape and Hermione Granger.

?We have shared the information about this magazine with Warner Bros and I am sure that I will speak again with them shortly,? said Neil Blair, Rowling?s lawyer.

?I do not believe that we or they were approached about this. As you would expect, both J K Rowling and Warner Bros take protection of their property rights very seriously.?

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A spokesman for the American defence force said: ?Each copy of our magazine is reviewed by our legal office.

?After reviewing this copy they judged that we were doing nothing wrong and that these characters were in parity use.?

The Sunday Herald has more details on the upcoming duel, and unlike the Times appears to be familiar with the term parody:

Preventative Maintenance Monthly has also featured ?parodies? of Dr Dolittle, the Twilight Zone and the Lone Ranger ? the character of Sergeant Half-Mast was created by the illustrator Will Eisner, who died last month, aged 87. Crunk said: ?Over the years we have shown lots of well-known cartoons, any number of things that our readers find familiar and will respond to.?

A US Army spokesman said: ?Each issue of the magazine is reviewed by the aviation and missile command legal office.

?After reviewing this particular issue the legal office concluded that there was nothing done that was impermissible and that the illustrations were clearly in the scope of parody and that, therefore, there was no need to seek permission from JK Rowling.?

Parody is protected under the first amendment in the US, and under a ?fair use? principle as long as it is done for ?humorous or satirical effect?. Courts have defended parodies of other works as long as they have an educational purpose, which Crunk believes this cartoon has.

Preventive Maintenence Monthly is actually more like a comic book than a magazine. Perhaps Army Legal could use a similar training aid - Preventing Law Suits Monthly. But all is not lost, rumor has it that the League of Army Warlocks (LAW) is curently at work in the Pentagon's North Tower on a counter-spell called "Riddikulus", details of which are highly classified.

"It's still a bit unstable at this time." Said an Army Spokeswitch.

Rowling, meanwhile, has countered by displaying a GI Joe doll called "Special 'Ops' Rummy" that she claims is "voodoo enhanced, and I can stick a pin in it and make Don Rumsfeld dance like a nasty little monkey."

Developing, as they say.