Roy Berman of 
Mutant Frog Travelogue has a nice post on illegally published novel-length “fanfiction” of Harry Potter books and got a hold on these books and scanned the front pages of them. See more here.
UPDATE: Mr Howard W. French elaborates on the subject in the article ‘Chinese Market Awash in Fake Harry Potter Books’ for the NYTimes. Mr Potter distinguises the following forms of copyright infringments:
- “There are the books, like the phony seventh novel, that masquerade as works written by Ms. Rowling.
- There are the copies of the genuine items, in both English and Chinese, scanned, reprinted, bound and sold for a fraction of the authorized texts.
- As in some other countries, there are the unauthorized translations of real Harry Potter books.
- [A]s well as books published under the imprint of major Chinese publishing houses, about which the publishers themselves say they have no knowledge.
- And there are the novels by budding Chinese writers hoping to piggyback on the success of the series — sometimes only to have their fake Potters copied by underground publishers who, naturally, pay them no royalties.”
Read Mr French’ article here.
