It turns out that a bookstore located in Coquitlam, British Columbia accidentally sold 14 copies of the new J.K. Rowling book, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince ahead of the official release date of July 16...

The Supreme Court of British Columbia has since issued a ruling that those who received early copies of the books are not allowed to sell them, tell anybody else what is in them, publicly display them, or read them. Yeah you heard that last bit right--if you managed to get your hands on the latest Harry Potter book before July 16, it's against the law for you to read it--at least in British Columbia anyway.

From the Times Online article Reading ban on leaked Harry Potter:

...J. K. Rowling's legal advisers said that the author was entitled to prevent buyers from reading their own books even though they had not broken the law.

"The fact is that this is property that should not have been in their possession," said Neil Blair, a legal specialist for Christopher Little, the author's literary agent...

...Korieh Duodu, a media lawyer for David Price Solicitors and Advocates, said: "I have never heard of such a wide-ranging order. One sympathises with the reader from a non-legal point of view, but property rights often trump civil liberties. There is no human right to read."...

...The injunction is similar to a court order imposed in England and Wales after two men from Kettering, Northamptonshire, allegedly stole a copy from a warehouse and attempted to sell details to The Sun newspaper. The order states that anyone who discloses names of new characters or plot details will be in contempt of court. It applies even to books acquired in good faith...

I guess if you managed to somehow already obtain and read this book, you better not mention anything about it, or the dementors will be swarming in on you faster than you can say expecto patronum!

Anyway, we're pretty excited in my family about the upcoming book. You can bet I'll be at the bookstore on 7/16 to get our copy. Harry rules! Are you getting psyched yet?

I don't know what they're going to do for the coming movies... the kids are growing up... Emma Watson is already 15 years old... at two years per film they're either going to have to skip a book or get new actors... or try very hard to make Rupert, Emma, and Daniel look a whole lot younger than they are.

Apparently Goblet of Fire is in post-production, and Order of the Phoenix is in pre-production (due out in 2007). Anyway that's a worry for another day... I'm just excited that I'll be finally getting my hands on a new Potter book! Friday can't come soon enough!