Not long after the Harry Potter spoilers have been released on Internet, a new threat may affect the enormous financial success of the book author, JK Rowling. It won’t be a surprise to see unauthorized French translations on P2P networks soon.
Apparently there are organized groups of translators which aim to release an unofficial French translation before the official Gallimard release, due in Oct. 26. These groups use the Internet to stay in touch and to exchange sections of the book.
A boy was arrested last week for posting a translation of the last book online. Gallimard, whose official French translation of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is due out on 26 October, said police had arrested a teenager suspected of posting his own translation of the new Potter novel on the internet.
The 16-year-old schoolboy, from the Aix-en-Provence area in southern France, was taken into custody by a police anti-counterfeiting unit but later released.
Rowling and Gallimard Jeunesse filed an official complaint but a Gallimard spokeswoman declared that their concern was organized networks of translators seeking to profit from the huge interest generated by the books.
She said in a statement: "This complaint in no way concerns isolated translations published on the internet... by disinterested fans not fully aware of the illegal nature of their action."
The spokeswoman said neither Gallimard nor Rowling were involved in the case and had not filed for damages.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was published in English last month, selling millions of copies in a matter of hours to become the fastest-selling book on record. But in France authorised translations can take months to appear.
Many French stores are selling the English-language version.More than 335 million copies of the seven Potter books have been sold worldwide.
