Harry_Potter_Web_war

Warner Bros, which purchased the intellectual property rights to Harry Potter from author JK Rowling, has requested that Claire Field, the Web mistress of www.harrypotterguide...Warner Bros, which purchased the intellectual property rights to Harry Potter from author JK Rowling, has requested that Claire Field, the Web mistress of www.harrypotterguide.

co.uk, hand over the registration of her site, claiming it is in breach of copyright.Negotiations between City firm Theodore Goddard, which is acting for Warner Bros, and Prettys have broken down.Matthew Rippon, an IT specialist at 16-partner firm Prettys, which is representing Ms Field and her father, said that although Warner Bros was willing to let her continue to run the site under their ownership of the domain, Ms Field was unwilling to let the name go.If Claires readers know that Warner Bros owns the site and hence have the power to pull the plug at any time, this will destroy her credibility, said Mr Rippon.

She is very unwilling to let the name go, and will only do so if legally forced to.The Fields and Prettys have gone public with the dispute in an effort to raise at least 3,000 for an insurance policy, without which they may be unable to fight on, said the firm.To make a donation, e-mail: mail@prettys.co.ukVictoria MacCallum