J.K. Rowling owns "muggles" and whatnot:

A federal court on Wednesday threw out author Nancy Stouffer's claims that Rowling, the author of the blockbuster Harry Potter ( news - web sites) books, stole words and characters from Stouffer's books. The claims were made against Rowling and her U.S. publisher and movie producer.

Partly at issue was ownership of the trademark and copyrights to "muggles." In Rowling's books, "muggles" is the name wizards give to humans who have no magical abilities. Stouffer had used the term to describe mythical characters in her books for children.

But the U.S. District Court for southern New York found not only that Rowling did not pilfer the muggles, but also that Stouffer had lied to the court and doctored evidence to support her claims. The court fined Stouffer $50,000 for this "pattern of intentional bad faith conduct."