Rowling wins court battle after pseudonym revealed
Author JK Rowling has accepted a substantial donation to charity from a law firm which breached her confidentiality by revealing she was writing under a pseudonym.
Harry Potter’s creator brought proceedings in London’s High Court against Chris Gossage, a partner at Russells and a friend of his, Judith Callegari.
Her solicitor, Jenny Afia, told Mr Justice Tugendhat that Rowling was revealed in the Sunday Times as the writer of crime novel 'The Cuckoo’s Calling', which was published under the name of Robert Galbraith.
A few days later, Russells contacted her agent disclosing that it was Mr Gossage who had divulged the confidential information to Ms Callegari, who then communicated it in the course of a Twitter exchange with a journalist.
Ms Afia said that Ms Rowling, who was not in court, “has been left dismayed and distressed by such a fundamental betrayal of trust”.
Mr Gossage, Ms Callegari and Russells all apologised, with the firm agreeing to reimburse Ms Rowling’s legal costs and make a payment, by way of damages, to the the Soldiers’ Charity, formerly the Army Benevolent Fund.
Afterwards, a statement issued on the author's behalf said that all global net royalties which would otherwise have been paid to her from book sales of 'The Cuckoo's Calling' would be donated to The Soldiers' Charity for a period of three years, dating from July 14 - the day that Galbraith's identity was made known.
