Thurman House, a newly formed publishing affiliate of the Baltimore book producer Ottenheimer Publishers, has reached an agreement with author Nancy Stouffer to republish The Legend of Rah and the Muggles as well as other Stouffer children's titles. Scholastic and Stouffer have traded lawsuits over the use of the Muggles characters, with Stouffer claiming that J.K. Rowling and Scholastic infringed her trademark by including the Muggles in Rowling's Harry Potter titles. Stouffer contends that she first published a Muggles book in 1984 and trademarked the Muggles name in 1986 (News, Mar. 13, 2000). Scholastic filed suit in late 1999 seeking a declaration that the Potter books do not infringe Stouffer's copyright or trademarks (News, Nov. 29, 1999).
According to Allan Hirsh III, president and CEO of Thurman and Ottenheimer, Thurman will release Rah and the Muggles on May 1 in a $19.95 hardcover edition. A first printing of more than 100,000 is planned. The second and third volumes in the trilogy will be published over the next two years. Hirsh said he is not concerned about any legal repercussions. "I did my due diligence and am convinced Nancy's books predated the Rowling books. These are good books that deserve to be in the marketplace," Hirsh told PW.
In addition to publishing the trilogy, Thurman will publish four Larry Potter storybooks in September and plans to publish eight other existing Potter books over the next few years. Stouffer said she was "relieved" to finally see her works republished. "It's been a long hard battle. I'm very grateful that Thurman stepped up" to publish the books.
Hirsh will attend the London and Bologna book fairs, as well as BookExpo America, to sell international rights. A national tour, in which appearances at schools will be a major part, is in the works for Stouffer.
Hirsh hopes that the Stouffer titles will form the backbone of the newly formed Thurman House. He plans to release between 12 and 16 books by this fall and has hired a number of commissioned rep groups to sell the company's titles.
