<P> Bloomsbury invested £ 10 million in an attempt to keep the book's contents secure until 21 July, the release date . Arthur Levine, US editor of the Harry Potter series, denied distributing any copies of Deathly Hallows in advance for press review, but two US papers published early reviews anyway . There was speculation that some shops would break the embargo and distribute copies of the book early, as the penalty imposed for previous instalments--that the distributor would not be supplied with any further copies of the series--would no longer be a deterrent . </P> <P> In the week before its release, a number of texts purporting to be genuine leaks appeared in various forms . On 16 July, a set of photographs representing all 759 pages of the US edition was leaked and was fully transcribed prior to the official release date . The photographs later appeared on websites and peer - to - peer networks, leading Scholastic to seek a subpoena in order to identify one source . This represented the most serious security breach in the Harry Potter series' history . Rowling and her lawyer confirmed that there were genuine online leaks . Reviews published in both The Baltimore Sun and The New York Times on 18 July 2007, corroborated many of the plot elements from this leak, and about one day prior to release, The New York Times confirmed that the main circulating leak was real . </P> <P> Scholastic announced that approximately one - ten - thousandth (0.0001) of the US supply had been shipped early--interpreted to mean about 1,200 copies . One reader in Maryland received a copy of the book in the mail from DeepDiscount.com four days before it was launched, which evoked incredulous responses from both Scholastic and DeepDiscount . Scholastic initially reported that they were satisfied it had been a "human error" and would not discuss possible penalties; however, the following day Scholastic announced that it would be launching legal action against DeepDiscount.com and its distributor, Levy Home Entertainment . Scholastic filed for damages in Chicago's Circuit Court of Cook County, claiming that DeepDiscount engaged in a "complete and flagrant violation of the agreements that they knew were part of the carefully constructed release of this eagerly awaited book ." Some of the early release books soon appeared on eBay, in one case being sold to Publishers Weekly for US $250 from an initial price of US $18 . </P> <P> Asda, along with several other UK supermarkets, having already taken pre-orders for the book at a heavily discounted price, sparked a price war two days before the book's launch by announcing they would sell it for just £ 5 a copy . Other retail chains then also offered the book at discounted prices . At these prices the book became a loss leader . This caused uproar from traditional UK booksellers who argued they had no hope of competing in those conditions . Independent shops protested loudest, but even Waterstone's, the UK's largest dedicated chain bookstore, could not compete with the supermarket price . Some small bookstores hit back by buying their stock from the supermarkets rather than their wholesalers . Asda attempted to counter this by imposing a limit of two copies per customer to prevent bulk purchases . Philip Wicks, a spokesman for the UK Booksellers Association, said, "It is a war we can't even participate in . We think it's a crying shame that the supermarkets have decided to treat it as a loss - leader, like a can of baked beans ." Michael Norris, an analyst at Simba Information, said: "You are not only lowering the price of the book . At this point, you are lowering the value of reading ." </P>

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