SYDNEY: J.K. Rowling has been named in a lawsuit alleging she stole ideas for her wildly popular and lucrative “Harry Potter” books from another British author.

The estate of the late Adrian Jacobs on Wednesday added Rowling as a defendant in a lawsuit it filed in June against Bloomsbury Publishing PLC for alleged copyright infringement, according to a statement released by the estate’s representatives, who are based in Australia.

The lawsuit, filed in a London court, claims Rowling’s book “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” copied substantial parts of Jacobs’ 1987 book, “The Adventures of Willy the Wizard — No. 1 Livid Land.” Jacobs’ estate also claims that many other ideas from “Willy the Wizard” were copied into the “Harry Potter” books. Jacobs died in London in 1997.

“Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” is the fourth book in Rowling’s series and was published in July 2000.

Sydney agent Max Markson, who is representing the trustee of Jacobs’ estate, Paul Allen, said Rowling was added to the lawsuit after Allen learned that the statute of limitations to sue her had not run out, as previously thought.

“I estimate it’s a billion-dollar case,” Markson said Thursday. “That’ll be the decision of the courts, obviously.”

J.K. Rowling said the claim was completely untrue.

“I am saddened that yet another claim has been made that I have taken material from another source to write Harry,” she said. “The fact is I had never heard of the author or the book before the first accusation by those connected to the author’s estate in 2004; I have certainly never read the book.”

“The claims that are made are not only unfounded but absurd and I am disappointed that I, and my UK publisher Bloomsbury, are put in a position to have to defend ourselves. We will be applying to the Court immediately for a ruling that the claim is without merit and should therefore be dismissed without delay.”

In June, Bloomsbury said the allegation that Rowling lifted from Jacobs’ work was “unfounded, unsubstantiated and untrue.” Bloomsbury said Jacobs’ estate first approached the company in 2004 with its claims, but was unable to identify any text in the “Harry Potter” books that was copied from “Willy the Wizard.”

In a statement, Allen said the estate is also seeking legal advice on whether the Harry Potter films and soon-to-be-opened Harry Potter theme park breach copyright law.

Chris Golightly, “American Idol” contestant Chris Golightly has been disqualified from the Top 24 only to be replaced by Tim Urban at the last minute. Some may remember him from the audition round in Los Angeles as the guy who has been in 25 foster homes since he was 18 months old.

Ryan Seacrest made it official with his tweet on Wednesday, February 17 after the revelation of Top 24 went on air. He wrote, “been determined that Chris Golightly is ineligible to continue on IDOL, contestant Tim Urban has replaced Golightly as part of the Top 24″. He however, remained shady on the reason of the disqualification, writing “must have broken a rule or maybe had previous deal”.

Fellow contestant of season 9 Samantha Musa who has also been cut, provided more insight to the situation, saying “Just got off the phone with Chris GoLightly. He was disqualified yesterday, after already being told he was in the top 24, over some bogus old contract. The contract expired, but they disqualified him for not telling them. He is talking to lawyers, but doubt they can do anything.”

Chris’ disqualification becomes a big issue since Michael Lynche is allowed to stay although he also broke a rule when his father told local paper that Michael is in the Top 24 before the show went on air. “He is upset cause he says it was a misunderstanding, yet they let Michael Lynch stay in the top 24 even though he broke contract when his family spilled the news about idol to the papers,” Samantha said. “So really, it’s pretty messed up that they pick and choose which ‘Breach’ to ignore and which to use as grounds for disqualification!”

The latest report said Chris had a management contract that expired in June last year. Producers kicked him out simply because he did not tell them about the contract.

New Moon Breaks Box Office Record!, New Moon had the biggest midnight opening of all time, raking in an estimated $26.27 million last night! It beat out Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince as well as The Dark Knight.