Manmohan Singh, J. -- The plaintiffs have filed the present suit for permanent injunction restraining infringement of copyright and trademark, rendition of accounts of profits, damages, delivery-up etc.

2. The brief facts of the case are that the plaintiff No.1, Ms. J.K. Rowling is the creator and author of several original literary works including the world famous ‘Harry Potter’ series of Children’s literature titled as:-

(a) Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone first published in 1997

(b) Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets first published in 1998

(c) Harry Potter and the Prisoners of Azkaban first published in 1999

(d) Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire first published in 2000

(e) Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix first published in 2003

(f) Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince first published in 2005

(g) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows first published in 2007.

3. Ms. Rowling, the plaintiff No.1, is the owner of all copyright in the literary works under the Harry Potter series as mentioned hereinabove. The said works are original literary works as contemplated under Section 2(o) of the Copyright Act, 1957.

4. Plaintiff No.1’s Harry Potter series of children’s books are a modern day publishing phenomenon and one of the most glaring success stories in the history of global publishing business. In the last eight years, over 300 million (30 crore) copies of the works under the Harry Potter series have been sold worldwide in more than 200 countries and have been translated into 62 languages – an unprecedented publishing achievement in the shortest span of time. The Harry Potter books have been widely publicized and loved by millions of children and adults around the world. The central character ‘Harry Potter’, a young master of wizardry lives in the vivid imagination of millions of children across continents.

5. In 1996, Ms. Rowling (plaintiff No.1) received an offer to publish her first book in the series from Bloomsbury Children’s Book, a division of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. (plaintiff No.2). Subsequently, plaintiff No.1 entered into a Publishing Agreement dated 29th July, 1996 with plaintiff No.2.

6. Plaintiff No.2 is one of Europe‘s leading and reputed independent publishing house especially in literary fiction, non-fiction and children books with a highly valuable portfolio of intellectual properties. Additionally, Plaintiff No.2 has a worldwide reputation for Media and Electronic Reference Publishing and Children’s Publishing.

7. Bloomsbury Children’s Books and Fiction Divisions are the other two strength areas of the plaintiff no.2. Publishing works for children accounts for a highly reputed and successful list of titles from the Plaintiff no.2 which includes successful authors such as J.K. Rowling, Debi Gliori, Sharon Crech, Benjamin Zephaniah, Jeanette Winterson and Alexander McCall Smith.

8. In June, 1997, plaintiff No.2 published plaintiff No.1’s first work in the series titled "Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone" and the world was introduced to Harry Potter. Within few months of the publication, the world was reeling under the spell and charisma of ‘Harry Potter’. In September, 1998 the US edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone titled Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone was published by Scholastic Inc. In 1998 the world was introduced to the second title in the series, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, published by plaintiff No.1. The third book was published in July, 1999 to worldwide acclaim and massive media attention.

9. In June, 2000, the plaintiff No.2 appointed Penguin Books India having its registered office at 11, Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi-110017 as its exclusive distributor in India for all books published by them in the United Kingdom and the United States of America including the Harry Potter books.

10. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the fourth book in the series was published by Bloomsbury in July, 2000 with a record first print