LAWYERS acting for J K Rowling are heading for a legal battle with the US army over a training manual that features characters similar to those in the Harry Potter books and films.

They are examining whether the publication, which has been distributed to soldiers at US army bases around the world, breaches copyright rules. Harry Potter’s intellectual property is owned by the author and the images are owned by the film company Warner Bros.

The magazine, The Preventive Maintenance Monthly, includes a cartoon character called Topper, a boy wizard, who attends Mogmarts school of magic. Harry Potter, Rowling’s boy wizard creation, attends the Hogwarts school of magic.

In the magazine, army officials are given a lesson from Professor Rumbledoore and his staff, a name strikingly similar to Rowling’s Professor Dumbledore. Other characters in the magazine include professors McDonagal and Snappy, and a Miss Ranger. The Harry Potter books feature professors McGonagall and Snape and Hermione Granger.

“We have shared the information about this magazine with Warner Bros and I am sure that I will speak again with them shortly,” said Neil Blair, Rowling’s lawyer.

“I do not believe that we or they were approached about this. As you would expect, both J K Rowling and Warner Bros take protection of their property rights very seriously.”

The author, who is based in Perthshire and gave birth to her third child last month, is notoriously protective of her image and has set strict embargos on all her Harry Potter books.

Warner Bros and Rowling, who is worth an estimated £450m, have previously quashed attempts to cash in on the series by authors in several countries.

In 2003 she took legal action against the New York Daily News for copyright infringement after the tabloid published excerpts of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

Her legal team has also taken action against websites cashing in on the Harry Potter image and last week the author posted a warning note on her website about an e-Book scam.

She advised: “The only genuine copies of Harry Potter remain the authorised traditional book or audio tapes/cassettes/CDs distributed through my publishers. Constant Vigilance!”

The Preventive Maintenance Monthly — which carries the motto “We Have the World's Best Equipment — Take Care of It!” —celebrated its 50th anniversary this year. It has a circulaion of 100,000.

A spokesman for the American defence force said: “Each copy of our magazine is reviewed by our legal office.

“After reviewing this copy they judged that we were doing nothing wrong and that these characters were in parity use.”

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