Rowling Appeals Copyright Ruling August 20, 2002 [ ananova ] reports:

JK Rowling and Warner Brothers are appealing against a court ruling on unlicensed Harry Potter books.

The Regional Court in Berlin ruled in favour of a German publishing house, Verlag an der Ruhr.

The judge ruled it did not need permission from Warner Brothers because the books were for educational purposes.

Warner Brothers lawyer Wilhelm Nordemann said: "The case concerns the unlawful adoption and exploitation of our client's property. It is plagiarism."

He added that the publishing house had only declared the books to be school books in order to be able to publish them at no cost.

He said: "The books are primarily a merchandising article."

Tolkien DVD Beats Harry Potter August 9, 2002 [ Sky News ] reports:

Frodo Baggins and friends have pipped fantasy film rival Harry Potter for a DVD sales record.

The first instalment of the Lord Of The Rings series has conjured up the biggest one-day sale for a DVD in the UK.

The Fellowship Of The Ring - already a box office smash - sold 1.27 million copies on its first day on the shelves on Tuesday.

Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone shifted 1.25 million copies on its day of release earlier this year, and 1.6 million by the end of its first week.

Epic book

Many stores around the UK opened early to sell copies of the film based on JRR Tolkien's epic book, and tens of thousands of people had pre-ordered the release.

A spokesman for the DVD's distributor said: "This was a particularly remarkable achievement in view of the Tuesday release date for Lord Of The Rings, instead of the more usual weekend release date for video and DVD titles."

The film stars Elijah Wood, Cate Blanchett, Liv Tyler, Sean Bean, Sir Ian McKellen and Sir Ian Holm.

The DVD version has a preview trailer giving fans a taster of the second film in the trilogy, The Two Towers, which arrives on the big screen later this year.

HP letters sold in charity raffle August 7, 2002 [ ananova ] reports:

Props from Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone are being raffled for charity.

They include two of the letters used in the film inviting Harry Potter to Hogwarts School, a T-shirt worn by one of the film crew, a hat and a poster.

The raffle is raising money for the Iain Rennie Hospice at Home, which provides free nursing care for patients in the Chiltern area of Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire.

Other prizes include tickets for the Queen musical We Will Rock You, a DVD player and a video recorder.

The hospice's fundraising manager Steve Grudgings said: "We approached Warner Brothers and asked them for some prizes and they've sent us some amazing things.

"There's been a huge amount of interest in the draw and at this rate we will have to print more tickets."

Tickets cost £1 and can be brought from the charity's South Buckinghamshire office on 01494 713888.

They are also available from High Wycombe Book Shop on 01494 465898.

New Month! Woohoo! August 1, 2002 [ ananova ] reports:

Ok, it's a new month! Yay! Be prepared for ... oh, what's this you say? More of the same thing?! That's crazy! More of the same high quality news, games, message boards, among others?! That--- that's just plain weird.

Oh, and be sure to take a look at July's news below.

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