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JK Rowling and her publisher Bloomsbury have failed to get summary judgment against the estate of Adrian Jacobs who is claiming that the Harry Potter novels infringe copyright in Jacobs’ Willy the Wizard novels by copying that book’s plot and themes.
Rowling and Bloomsbury claimed that Jacobs’ claim should be dismissed summarily, as (a) Rowling had not read Willy the Wizard, and (b) the plot and themes she had allegedly copied were too abstract to be protected by copyright.
The allegations of copying were complex, and the defendants had not disclosed Rowling’s drafts or of her agent’s diaries. Similarly, the judge strongly inclined to the view that no copyright subsisted in the plot and themes, but on neither point was the case clear enough to be suitable for summary judgment.
The matter may roll on to court – but with three firms of solicitors and six barristers involved, the loser could face a very large bill, and hopefully common sense will allow the matter to settle.
As has been widely reported this week, some 3,000 UK workers are taking part in a six month trial to assess the viability of a four-day working week without any reduction in their normal pay.
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In Nissan v Passi, the High Court recently considered the issue of an employee retaining confidential documents belonging to his former employer in the context of the employer’s application for an injunction seeking the return of such documents from the employee.
The UK government is considering extending this power to depart from retained EU case law to additional lower courts and tribunals, namely the Court of Appeal in England and Wales and the High Court of Justice in England and Wales and their equivalents.
Lord Justice Arnold has applied the guidance of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) to the evidence before him, in the long standing trade mark dispute between Sky and Skykick.
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