Hollywood Docket: UK Investigating Celebrities Over Paid Product Plugs

Entertainment law news this morning:

• UK authorities are reportedly examining celebrities for endorsing luxury items on blogs and Twitter without disclosing they have been paid for such plugs. A crackdown is said to have been ordered by the Office of Fair Trading, the UK equivalent of the FTC, which may begin contacting actors and musicians for potential violations of consumer protection laws. [Daily Mail]

• A judge has dismissed a claim that accuses author JK Rowling of copying parts of The Adventures of Willy the Wizard for her Harry Potter franchise, ruling the two works are distinctly different in both substance and style. [BBC]

• UK Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg is introducing new laws aimed at relaxing Britain's libel laws to make it harder for plaintiffs to sue. Among the proposals is a statutory public interest defense. [Guardian]

• As many as 50,000 iTunes accounts that were illegally obtained via hacking have been sold on China's biggest consumer auction site, Taobao. [Global Times]

• Actress Sienna Miller is suing the publisher of News of the World for hacking into her mobile voicemail system to intercept messages that contained private information about her and ex-boyfriend Jude Law. [Glamour]