Warner Bros. sparks outrage after crackdown on Harry Potter fan events to 'preserve trademark'

Image from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Chloe Chaplain16 June 2018

Warner Bros. has sparked outrage amongst Harry Potter fans after cracking down on unauthorised festivals celebrating the J.K.Rowling series.

The entertainment giant said it was necessary to stop the fan events becoming a “vehicle for unauthorised commercial activity”.

But furious organisers of the festivals said the bosses are behaving like Death Eaters by taking the fun out of Harry Potter-themed events organised by communities.

Organisers of a local ‘Quidditch’ tournament in Philadelphia, US, said they had been contacted by Warner Bros. in May informing them that new guidelines prohibit festivals' use of any names, places or objects from the series.

That ruled out everything from meet-and-greet with Dumbledore and Harry to Defence Against the Dark Arts classes.

J.K. Rowling: The author has not commented on the argument
PA

"It's almost as if Warner Bros. has been taken over by Voldemort, trying to use dark magic to destroy the light of a little town," Sarah Jo Tucker, a 21-year-old student who attended the event last year, said.

Other festival directors around the US, including in Aurora, Illinois, and Ithaca, New York, were also told the new guidelines would prohibit much of the Potter-themed activities in order to protect the trademark.

"Warner Bros. is always pleased to learn of the enthusiasm of Harry Potter fans, but we are concerned, and do object, when fan gatherings become a vehicle for unauthorised commercial activity," the company said.

Fans of the Philadelphia festival took to Twitter to try to get J.K. Rowling to help save the festival. A spokeswoman for the author said she has no comment.

A scene from Harry Potter and thr Goblet of Fire

Ithaca's "Wizarding Weekend" grew from a small celebration in an alleyway in 2015 to a full-fledged Potter-fest hosting over 20,000 fans last year, said Darlynne Overbaugh, the festival's director. Warner Bros. sent her a letter in February.

She said she understands the company's need to protect the franchise, but she felt like her festival was helping to build it.

The festival crackdown is not the first – in 2003 a British women was sent a cease-and-desist letter over a Hogwarts-themed dinner party she planned, with a guest list around 30.

And a Los Angeles bookstore called "Whimsic Alley" was sued by the company over its overtly Hogwarts-ian wares, from chocolate frogs to Gryffindor scarves.

Additional reporting by PA.

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