A major movie studio wants a New Hampshire university to reconsider its use of the Harry Potter brand. And its using its legal muscle to make it so.
The University of New Hampshire offers a summer program for students in grades four through eight featuring author J.K. Rowling’s famed literary character. Children love the Potter books, so using the book franchise to sharpen reading skills makes sense.
Warner Bros. agrees–to a point.
The studio is concerned with people thinking it is sponsoring the class, so it sent a cease and desist order to the university.
Warner Brothers objected to some of the uses of terms from the books in the course design and advertising.
The course will continue next summer, but while the university doesn’t admit to the allegations, the name of the course will no longer be “Harry Potter as Storytelling,” and it will avoid any references to trademarks such as the lightning bolt scar.
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