JK Rowling may be forced to defend ownership of Harry Potter in court

Harry Potter author JK Rowling may be forced to appear in court to defend her ownership of the boy wizard.

A US court will next month decide whether Rowling -- full name Joanne Murray Rowling -- can block the publication of an encyclopaedia of the wizarding world she created.

Lawyers for the publishers of the Harry Potter Lexicon want the 42-year-old author to appear in a New York court.

"Her intellectual property rights do not extend that far," said  Roger Rapoport of publisher RDR Books.

Rowling is seeking a ban claiming it infringes her copyright, and instead wants to produce her own version for charity.

The rival encyclopedia was compiled by a free internet website – The Harry Potter Lexicon – which had previously won an award from Rowling for their content.