JK ROWLING called on her millions of fans yesterday to lobby the internet auction site eBay to stop selling copies of Harry Potter books and posters bearing forged signatures.
In a quietly scathing attack on one of the web’s biggest success stories, which recorded £133.5 million first-quarter profits of this year, Ms Rowling said eBay appeared “unable” to prevent sellers conning fans.

Writing on her own website, the author advised people looking for rare or signed editions to avoid eBay and other similar auction houses. “I would be delighted if the online community of Harry Porter fans canvassed eBay directly, asking that they might be protected against this exploitation,” she wrote. “You might succeed where I have so far failed.”

A scan of eBay yesterday showed a string of “signed” Potter books on sale, including copies of the latest, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, allegedly signed in Edinburgh.

A UK spokesman for eBay insisted yesterday that the site was working with Ms Rowling’s representatives against forgeries. The company relied on its 157 million users to help police the site and report suspicions about items - which would then be removed, she said. But a lawyer for Ms Rowling’s UK agents said the sale of fakes had been going on for years.

In addition, any e-books or digital audio books offered on the site were pirated, said Neil Blair. Only this week, for the first time, has Ms Rowling authorised the sale of downloadable audio books, through iTunes.

“We have approached eBay before,” said Mr Blair, a lawyer with the Christopher Little Literary Agency. “It has been an issue for some time.”

Posted: 09|9|05 at 8:07 am. Filed under: UK News.