One of my Anony-Mice from the previous post directed me to this headline in the Daily Beast: Muggles Ruin Harry Potter Dinner originally from The Guardian UK. It seems a restaurateur in London whose daughter is an "obsessive" fan wanted to host a fun Harry Potter themed dinner on Halloween.

She didn't count on the Zombie Lawyers coming out of the Crypt:

The owner of The Underground Restaurant, who uses the pseudonym Ms Marmite Lover, regularly holds themed evenings and for her latest event she had planned a menu of food and drink enjoyed by Harry Potter and his friends in the JK Rowling stories: from dandelion wine and pumpkin soup to Dumbledore's favourite sweets, such as mint humbugs. Guests were to be taken down Diagon Alley (the side of the house) before entering and would be met by a portrait of the "Fat Lady" to whom they would have to give a password.
However, Warner Bros has written to her warning that it owns all things Harry Potter: the "name, stylised logo, the name of the characters, themes, incidents and other associated indicia from the series of... books and films".
The letter from the company's legal and business department says: "Dear Ms Marmite Lover. While we are delighted you are such a fan of the Harry Potter series, unfortunately your proposed use of the Harry Potter properties... without our consent would amount to an infringement of Warner's rights."
Ms Marmite Lover has now renamed the event, as Warner Bros suggested, "Generic Wizard Night".
More at Link...

Shades of the Soup Nazi from the Seinfeld show! No Halloween Fun For You! Oops ~ I guess that's an instant "Godwin" but, oh, who cares. We're talking about WB!

I like the idea of "Generic Wizards" so I'm making a new tag for it, and I think we'll celebrate here with Generic Wizarding Terms used at Halloween that are not trademarked by WB, or even J. R. R. Tolkien's estate.
 
UPDATE : Here is the link to Ms. Marmite Lover's Blog with a copy of the complete letter from WB:
Generic Wizard Night
She points out in a comment below her post that she was not making any money off the dinner, and just wanted contributions to pay for the food. It was a Fan Night, and she wasn't trying to rip off WB. Good Lord!

UPDATE 2:  Ms. Marmite Lover has quoted a comment I wrote on her blog in her new blog post on the Guardian UK. The comments there are really interesting!  Plus, Ms. Marmite has joined us down in the comments section if anyone wants to talk to her.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Lawyers

UPDATE #3.This is really hitting the news now!

The BBC: Harry Potter Dinner Disappears

Sky News: Legal Warning Over HP Supper Clubs

Winnipeg Sun: Potter Party Runs Afoul of Warner Bros

That last one has a great picture of Ms Marmite Lover's cozy restaurant:






Soup Nazi: You want bread?
George Costanza: Yes, please.
Soup Nazi: $3!
George Costanza: What?
Soup Nazi: NO SOUP FOR YOU!
[snaps his fingers. The cashier instantly takes George's soup and gives him back his money]



Also, they can chew on this: Little Debbie Makes Pumpkin Pasties