And the German publisher is demanding the website providing an early translation 'cease and desist'

Legal rematch for German Potter fans

German Harry Potter fans who were forced to remove home-made translations from the internet in 2000 been threatened with legal action once more.

With the official German version of the latest book not due until November, a virtual community of Potter lovers has set about translating it themselves.

They did the same thing with the last instalment in 2000 - and had to remove their work after being threatened with an injunction by Potter's German publishers, Carlsen.

Now Carlsen said it has ordered the site's owners to remove the material - again - and they have agreed - again.

The Harry auf Deutsch site has encouraged a reported 1,000 readers to help translate Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which was published in English in June.

The man who runs the site, Bernd Koeleman, said it is not a profit-making venture, and is done for fun to help readers improve their English.

But Carlsen said any material from the book that appeared on the site was a breach of copyright.

A spokeswoman for the publisher said the company spoke to Mr Koeleman on Tuesday and he agreed to remove the translations.

"We agreed with him that he does not want to do these infringements and so he will take these texts away," she told BBC News Online.

"And if he does not follow this request, we have to take legal steps."

Mr Koeleman said the translations would not be available to the public on the site - only by e-mail for the site's members.

More than 15 million copies of the first four official German translations have been sold so far.