‘Potter’ publisher to fight suit

LONDON — The publisher of the wildly popular and very profitable “Harry Potter” books says it intends to fight a lawsuit alleging that author J.K. Rowling stole the idea for the series about the boy wizard.

Bloomsbury Publishing is being taken to court in London by the estate of the late author Adrian Jacobs for copyright infringement, statements released Tuesday by the publishing house and legal representatives of the estate said.

A statement on the website of the London law firm DMH Stallard, which is representing Jacobs’ estate, said Rowling’s 2000 book “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” “reproduces substantial parts” of Jacobs’ “The Adventures of Willy the Wizard,” which was published in 1987. Jacobs died in London in 1997.

Bloomsbury said Tuesday that the allegation that Rowling lifted from Jacobs’ work is “unfounded, unsubstantiated and untrue.” Rowling made no comment on the suit.