Harry Potter Battles Attack of the Clones

With his boyish blond hair, clear blue eyes and sweet smile, Russian author Dmitri Yemets is disarmingly likable for someone accused of plagiarism.

Mega-author J.K. Rowling sued him in an Amsterdam court, alleging that Yemets was a copycat with his book “Tanya Grotter i Volshebny Kontrabas” -- or “Tanya Grotter and the Magic Double Bass.”

Yemets’ Dutch publisher, Byblos, lost the case this month and was ordered not to publish the book in the Netherlands, but plans to appeal.

The court decision fires a warning to publishing houses elsewhere in Europe, Asia and the United States to steer clear of “Tanya Grotter,” but it but does nothing to control the spread of “Tanya Grotter” in Russia.

“Tanya Grotter” emerged last year and quickly took off. After issuing legal threats in Russia, Rowling and Time Warner Inc., which has made two of her books into films, took action not in Moscow but in Amsterdam.

The case illustrates the difficulties of enforcing intellectual property law in Russia, where video, DVD and software pirates churn out their wares with cheeky disregard for copyright law and where police crackdowns are sporadic.

The idea of Harry Potter as a brand name to be defended against pretenders in court is lost on the Russian literary world -- in a country where authorities are lackadaisical about enforcing copyright and intellectual property laws. In fact, many Russian critics defend Yemets as a talented writer who did no harm with “Tanya Grotter,” arguing that the Grotter series is a valid literary endeavor.

Yemets insists “Tanya Grotter and the Magic Double Bass” is a lighthearted parody of the Harry Potter books that gained a life of its own in the three successive books he rushed out in less than a year.

“I believe in my books,” says Yemets, 29, who has been deflecting approaches from low-budget Russian filmmakers. “Manuscripts don’t burn. I sincerely believe that ‘Tanya Grotter’ is a good book and it won’t disappear because good books don’t sink without a trace.”

The Amsterdam court rejected the argument that the book was a parody and ruled that its publication would violate copyright and trademark laws.

There are plot similarities between “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” and “Tanya Grotter and the Magic Double Bass.” Both heroes are 10-year-old orphans who attend wizardry schools and battle evil wizards. Potter rides a broomstick and Grotter rides a double bass.

Yemets says his initial idea was to create Tanya Grotter as Harry Potter’s antithesis. But he argues that his books have diverged in style from the increasingly dark and gothic Harry Potter books. Yemets says his books are comic fantasy and romance, and Tanya Grotter is a rebellious figure who dabbles in black magic.

Yemets’ books don’t match Harry Potter’s Russian sales of 1.5 million in the last nine months, but he’s a significant competitor, selling 600,000 copies in that period. He is also a fast writer. Yemets has published 20 books and it takes him three months to write a 300-page Grotter novel.

“What Yemets did is totally normal and acceptable in literature,” said a Russian literary critic, Lev Anninsky.

“ ‘Tanya Grotter’ is definitely much better than many other books written recently. ‘Tanya Grotter’ is good reading for children. It is ingenuous, kindhearted and entertaining reading that does not spoil children.

“If ‘Grotter’ is so much weaker, why file a lawsuit against it? Why not wait until it dies a natural death? If they are fighting against ‘Grotter’ so vigorously, then it means the book is not that bad.”

Vyacheslav Kuritsyn, a popular Russian book critic, said it was clear that Yemets used many of the ideas from the Harry Potter books.

“But it is not a crime at all. That kind of thing constitutes normal literary practice today,” he said.

Another critic, Alla Latynina, of Literaturnaya Gazette, said both the Harry Potter and the Tanya Grotter books were good reading for children.

“No one can ban a writer from writing a parody of any work of literature in the world. It just cannot be done,” she argued.

Svetlana Polyakova of EKSMO publishers, which publishes the Tanya Grotter books in Russia, mounted a novel argument, implying that legal niceties may be sacrificed if it encourages children to read good books.

“Children don’t care about copyright laws,” Polyakova said. “All they need is good literature. And ‘Tanya Grotter’ is good literature.”

Tatyana Uspenskaya, marketing director of Rosman, which publishes the Potter series in Russia, counters that intellectual property has to be the primary standard.

“As a result of this theft, consumers have ended up with yet another book that they liked. And it’s cheaper than the original. In that sense consumers are better off, no doubt. But that does not make theft any less appalling or illegal.”

Yemets has written 20 other fantasy books, but the Grotter books account for half his earnings. He’s coy about how much he makes.

He would like people not to judge the book by its title, but by its contents.

“I’ve never dodged an analysis of my books. My strongest shield is the text. I always say, ‘Read it first and then judge,’ ” he said. “Three-quarters of those who read my books become my allies.”