Harry Potter Plagerism?

According to Publisher’s Weekly The estate of Adrian Jacobs is suing Bloomsbury, J.K. Rowling, and Scholastic for plagiarism found in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.  Do I think that these accusations are founded?  I doubt it.  I will be very surprised if the court rules in the favor of the Estate.

Plagiarism as defined by dictionary.reference.com
is : the unauthorized use or close imitation of the language and thoughts of another author and the representation of them as one’s own original work.

Notice I quoted where I got that definition.

According to Reuters.com the similar plot elements include a contest, clues, and a bathroom.  Well, I don’t know that, that in and of itself is plagiarism.  Are all plots that have clues and contests then plagiarized?  Is it the bathroom that they find the fault with?  From the articles that I’ve read, the characters are vastly different.

The concept of a “hero” overcoming quests/clues/obstacles is found throughout literature.  Also if you have a society then you aromatically have to have laws and all the trapping of society like medical care, recreation, etc.  That is all part of creating the world.  I don’t think that every author who creates a world is plagiarizing simply because their book has a “wizard prison” and so does another book.

The book claiming plagiarism is only 32 pages.  Quite a difference from Rowling’s 752 page, paperback edition, tome.  I’m curious as to whether this is all a publicity stunt. Sue a renown author to get people to buy the book, if it’s still in print.  It will be interesting to see the outcome of the case and if it affects plagiarism laws and definitions.