JK Rowling to sue newspaper for breaking Potter embargo

JK Rowling is suing an American newspaper for tens of millions of dollars for publishing extracts from the new Harry Potter book, which is strictly embargoed until Saturday.

The best-selling author and her US publisher Scholastic took legal action after the New York Daily News printed extracts of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which officially goes on sale at 12.01am on June 21.

"We are taking all reported breaches of the June 21st on-sale date seriously and we are investigating them with a view to possible legal action," said Scholastic in a statement.

In a lawsuit filed yesterday at the US district court in Manhattan, the publisher and author said they were seeking "tens of millions of dollars" from the newspaper for publishing brief extracts and a plot synopsis of the fifth Harry Potter instalment.

A spokesman for the Daily News, Ken Frydman, defended its actions, saying: "We will vigorously defend any action and are confident we did nothing wrong journalistically or legally."

In a bizarre twist the newspaper bought the eagerly awaited book from a health food store-owner who had been given copies of the 870-page novel to display in his window and said he was not aware of the embargo.

Advance copies of the book have not been made available to the media, adding to the frenzy surrounding the launch.

Scholastic is planning a print run of 8.5 million copies in the US alone to satisfy the huge demand for the title, which is already topping online bestseller lists thanks to advance sales.

Earlier this week thousands of copies of the novel were stolen from a trading estate in northern England. The trailer that had contained the books was later found minus its load.

In May JK Rowling and her British publisher Bloomsbury obtained an injunction against "John Doe", an unknown person who stole copies of her book, after two copies of The Order of the Phoenix were given to the Sun newspaper by Keith Webb, who found them in a field in Suffolk.

The publisher of Hillary Clinton's memoirs threatened to sue the Associated Press earlier this month after the news agency published leaked extracts from the book.