Warner Bros. Suspends Sales of Magic Caster Wand, Possibly Due to Dispute with Kano
Warner Bros. has suspended sales of its Harry Potter: Magic Caster Wand smart device, and the decision is possibly related to a dispute with Kano, the creators of the Harry Potter Coding Kit. While the Magic Caster Wand is a Warner Bros. product, Kano’s Harry Potter Coding Kit is licensed by Warner Bros. Consumer Products as an official product inspired by the Harry Potter series.
Harry Potter: Magic Caster Wand products are shown in a promotional image.
While it is unclear when the decision to pull the Magic Caster Wand from the market was made, we at MuggleNet noticed that the store Harry Potter New York responded to a fan who inquired about the product on Twitter. As embedded below, in a tweet dated April 6, 2023, at 10:11 a.m. ET, the Harry Potter New York Twitter account replied, “At this time, sales of the wand have now ended.”
At this time, sales of the wand have now ended.
— Harry Potter Store New York (@HarryPotterNY) April 6, 2023
Similarly, at the time of publication, all the models of the Magic Caster Wand are listed as “No Longer Available” on the official website for the product, as shown on the page describing the Loyal wand. This confirms that sales of the Magic Caster Wand have ended on its official website and not just at Harry Potter New York.
In late January of this year, it was reported by multiple outlets that Kano alleges that Warner Bros. copied its wand technology for the product that eventually became the Magic Caster Wand. A report from Fast Company provides more details on these allegations.
In an interview with Fast Company, [cofounder and CEO of Kano Alex] Klein alleges that after discussions with Warner Bros. fell flat, the company took the intellectual property belonging to Kano—including its inventions, trade secrets, and assets protected by patents—to launch a competing wand, called the Harry Potter Magic Caster Wand.
Warner Bros. also responded.
In response to the allegations outlined by Klein, a Warner Bros. spokesperson told Fast Company, ‘The claims made by Kano are without merit.’ In a separate letter sent to Klein on January 11, the studio’s legal representatives wrote: ‘[Warner Bros. Discovery]’s development of the Magic Caster Wand has nothing to do with Kano’s allegedly confidential information and did not involve any improper use of Kano’s allegedly confidential information.’
The Kano Harry Potter Coding Kit is shown in a product image.
In an article from the same date as the Fast Company piece, TechCrunch reported that the dispute involved a request from Kano to Warner Bros. to cease and desist.
London-based Kano issued a ‘cease and desist’ to Warner Bros. this week, which TechCrunch has seen, requesting that the media and entertainment giant halt its go-to-market and promotional activities.
Additionally, Klein explained to TechCrunch that, although the Harry Potter Coding Kit did not include all the same features as the Harry Potter: Magic Caster Wand, some of the features that later ended up as part of the Magic Caster Wand were considered in talks between Kano and Warner Bros.
‘In the process of making it easy for a person to hold down the button on the wand and cast a spell, we realized that this is a new language for human computer interaction,’ Klein said. ‘You could be casting spells not only to make Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Beans explode on a screen, but you could [also] be doing gestures to control your lights, unlock your door and control the volume of music. We realized that this gestural form of interaction could be quite powerful and extended into other domains in the smart home. So we came in, [and] they [Warner Bros.] got really excited about this idea of controlling the smart home.’
At the time of publication, it is unclear to us at MuggleNet if either party has taken or will be taking further legal action in relation to the two wand-themed products. It is also unclear, therefore, if or when the Magic Caster Wand will be available for purchase again.
Have you purchased a Harry Potter: Magic Caster Wand or a Harry Potter Coding Kit? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below.
