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Potter posted in full on Chinese site

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BEIJING, China (Hollywood Reporter) -- Less than 24 hours after the English edition of the latest Harry Potter book went on sale in China's capital on the weekend, the full text of the 672-page tome was available for free on the Internet as an unauthorized e-book, the Beijing News reported on Wednesday.

The Shui Mu Tsing Hua bulletin board service posted the full text of "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" on Sunday, according to the Chinese language daily.

Author J.K. Rowling has long warned readers against unauthorized electronic versions of her work. Her fantasy series enjoys vast popularity in China, however, spawning in 2002 a copycat adventure, "Harry Potter and Leopard-Walk-Up-To-Dragon," by an unknown Chinese author who attributed the work to Rowling.

Using a guest log in, a check of the password-protected electronic bulletin board showed the pirated "e-book" was no longer available under a "chat" thread labeled "Harry Potter," which repeatedly turned up an "error" message instead.

The administrator of the BBS -- affiliated with Tsinghua University, one of China's most prestigious research institutions -- could not be reached for comment.

An electronic publishing expert said that with close cooperation and a digital camera it was possible for a team of people to get such a long book on to the Internet in one day, the daily reported.

A spokesman in the legal department of China's Copyright Protection Office told the daily, "If there is no e-version authorized, then the author's rights have already been infringed."

Over the weekend, Beijing bookstores sold some 5,000 legitimate hardbound copies of the book for 178 yuan ($21.51) each.

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