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Roonwit writes about his research into the decoy titles

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We asked Roonwit to write this entry about his (and Pablo’s) research into the titles, and this is what he sent us…
Warner Bros. have often registered decoy trademarks with the real Harry Potter titles, for example the trademarks
HARRY POTTER AND THE GREEN FLAME TORCH,
HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE,
HARRY POTTER AND THE HALLOWS OF HOGWARTS,
HARRY POTTER AND THE HOGSMEADE TOMB,
HARRY POTTER AND THE HOGWARTS HALLOWS
are some of those registered on 24th July 2003 under the alias “Seabottom Productions Limited”. They obviously do this because they need the title registered before it is announced, but HP fans do occasionally check the registrations in publically accessible databases, so registering just the real titles would be a bit of a giveaway.

After the release of book 7’s title, Pablo (aka El Cronista) from harrylatino.com, spotted that the trademark DEATHLY HALLOWS had been registered under a new alias “Stone Connect (UK) Limited” and found two others and guessed they might be the alternate titles Jo mentioned on her website. Presumably Warner Bros. realizes that we read the databases and chose to register the trademark without the “Harry Potter and the” to hide them further.

However the ones Pablo found were only part of the full list, of which
HEART OF RAVENCLAW,
DEATHLY HALLOWS,
DEADLY VEIL,
DEMON’S SWORD,
QUEST OF THE SERPENT
were all registered on 5th December 2006.

Such registrations contain decoys for the real titles, other words relating to the Harry Potter books (for example WHOMPING WILLOW is also a trademark), but they could also contain the alternate titles Jo considered for the 7th book if she decided to register them.

The other trademarks were registered to “Stone Connect (UK) Limited” on 5th September 2006:
GREY LADY,
HEIR OF GRYFFINDOR,
LOST SCEPTRE,
BROKEN WAND,
GRYFFINDOR QUEST,
PEVERELL QUEST

and on 2nd November 2005:
WAND OF GRYFFINDOR,
RING OF DESTINY,
ELDER WAND,

and on 25th October 2005:
REVENGE OF DUMBLEDORE
MARCH OF THE DEATH EATERS,
RETURN OF THE DARK LORD,

and on 22nd October 2005:
CURSE OF NAGINI,
LAST PROPHECY,
HALLOWS OF HOGWARTS,
MUDBLOOD REVOLT,
SEVENTH HORCRUX,
WAND OF GRINDELWALD,
FINAL CURSE

It is interesting to note that HARRY POTTER AND THE HALLOWS OF HOGWARTS was registered at the same time as the title of book 6, and HALLOWS OF HOGWARTS were registered, so, given the resemblence to the final title, it is possible that this was the working title for book 7 back in 2003.

Lisa writes: Thanks, Roonwit, and Pablo for doing all of this. We have a better picture of Jo’s naming process (and lots of titles to chuckle about) because of your hard work.

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