Books of Magic vs Harry Potter

[stacygalore]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "Steve" <bboyminn at ...> wrote:
>
> ---  "stacygalore" <stacygalore@> wrote:
> >
> > The thread about Stardust got me thinking about Neil
> > Gaiman and his graphic novel "Books of Magic". ...  
> > A good friend of mine refused to read Harry Potter 
> > because he was convinced JKR ripped off Neil Gaiman.
> > Has anybody heard of this theory?  ...
> >
> 
> bboyminn:
> 
> Well, let's see. Harry Potter has magic; Lord of the 
> Rings (LotR) has magic. Harry Potter has wizards,
> LotR has wizards. Harry Potter has elves, LotR has
> elves. Harry Potter goes on a quest, Frodo goes on a
> quest. So, Harry Potter must have ripped off LotR? 
> Believe me there are thousands who believe this is
> true.
> 
> But then there are hundreds of books that use those
> same themes. In fact, those themes go back many 
> hundreds of years. Perhaps even a 1,000 years or more.
> So exactly who ripped off who? 
> 
> The point is that Tolkien did not invent Elves or
> wizards any more than JKR or Gaiman did. Further, 
> there are some things that you are allowed to steal.
> Most authors steal to some extent from others. But
> there is a difference between using the same concept,
> and actually stealing the story and characters. 
> 
> So, I guess my point is that there are some things
> that can be legally 'stolen'. Since there hasn't 
> been a lawsuit by Gaiman, I suspect he doesn't feel
> like he was ripped off. If the author doesn't think
> so, I don't see why your friend should think so.
> 
> For what it's worth.
> Steve/bboyminn

Stacy here:
I should forward this to my friend.  Maybe your words will convince him that he's being 
silly, and coax him to read the books.  I keep telling him he's really missing out on some 
wonderful stuff.