DeepDiscount.com violated an agreement to keep the fate of the young wizard secret until midnight, publisher Scholastic Inc. charges in a lawsuit filed this week. Meanwhile, Amazon reports record sales of the last book in the Harry Potter series.
The latest and final book in the Harry Potter series – “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” – won’t officially be available until 12:01 a.m. Saturday morning, but the hoopla is building and Scholastic is already suing one web merchant for selling and distributing early copies.
In a law suit filed Wednesday in Chicago in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Scholastic is suing Infinity Resources Inc., which operates DeepDiscount.com and is No. 119 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, for violating the book’s embargo agreement.
The complaint, which also names book distributor Levy Home Entertainment LLC, alleges that Levy and Infinity Resources violated the terms of a March confidentiality and embargo agreement. Scholastic, No. 41 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, asked the court for an immediate injunction against any other advance distribution and for unspecified monetary damages. "We have not allowed them to continue any sales of Harry Potter books," says a Scholastic spokeswoman. Infinity Resources isn’t talking publicly about the suit, but on early Friday afternoon DeepDiscount.com was still offering the book for sale with language that the book is scheduled for release at 12:01 a. m Saturday.
“Scholastic has recently learned that some individuals have received copies of ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows’ through the mail, beginning on Tuesday, July 17, as a result of a breach of the on-sale agreement by the distributor, Levy Home Entertainment, and shipments made by DeepDiscount.com, a customer of that distributor,” says the spokeswoman. “We are taking immediate legal action against DeepDiscount.com and Levy Home Entertainment.”
Scholastic is also asking fans who bought an early copy to refrain from any public discussion, but the sale of the book is already creating a major retail and media event. For instance, Amazon.com, No. 1 in the Internet Retailer Top 500 Guide, says “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” is the most anticipated book in its history as an online books retailer.
As of midnight on July 19, Amazon had received more than 2.22 million pre-orders of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" on its web sites worldwide, eclipsing the previous pre-order record of 1.5 million held by the sixth book in the Harry Potter series, the retailer says. On Amazon.com, the company received a record 1.41 million pre-orders.
Amazon estimates its customers will save more than $50 million worldwide on the purchase of the book when factoring in savings from the book's discounted price, a $5 promotional certificate and free shipping. Across all of its seven web sites, Amazon will ship to more than 160 countries around the world, the retailer says. On its busiest pre-order day, Amazon.com says it took more than 1.75 pre-orders of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" per second.
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