'Harry Potter dinner' disappears

The Harry Potter books and films are a global phenomenon

A woman planning "Harry Potter nights" at a supper club she runs at home has been forced to change their name after a warning from film studio Warner Bros.

The evenings in Kilburn, north London, were due to incorporate food and other elements from the Harry Potter books.

Warner Bros, maker of the Harry Potter films, wrote to the club's organiser "Ms Marmite Lover" warning that the parties would infringe its rights.

The club will now hold two "Generic Wizard nights" for Halloween.

On her blog, Ms Marmite Lover explains that she researched and developed her menu with her Harry Potter-obsessed teenage daughter and a food writer who used to moderate an internet forum about the boy wizard.

It was to include "butterbeer", pumpkin soup and "Witches hat pumpkin pasties", "Fizzpop chocolate frogs" and "cauldron cakes".

Guests would have to enter the venue, called the Underground Restaurant, through "Diagon Alley" and by giving a password - while a "Sorting Hat" would decide the seating plan.

Single mother

After Warner Bros learned about the ticketed event, it wrote to Ms Marmite Lover saying: "While we are delighted that 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."

The letter added: "Warner does not, of course, object to you holding a generic wizard/Halloween night at the Underground Restaurant."

Ms Marmite Lover's blog The English Can Cook says she wrote back to confirm changing the events' name.

But, she suggested in her reply: "JK Rowling herself, having at one time been a struggling single parent, and having donated to the National Council for One Parent Families, would probably approve of a single mother being entrepreneurial and creative".

The Underground Restaurant usually charges diners about £20-30 each, excluding alcohol.

Warner Bros says it has guidelines to help Harry Potter fans run non-profit and charitable events true to the spirit of the stories.

The vast majority of non-commercial events are able to go ahead with the studio's support, it says.