Marty Lipton and the Missing Manuscript

For some time, rumour had it that J.K. Rowling, creator of the "Harry Potter" series of books, actually stole the basic idea for her best-selling novels, from a missing, unpublished manuscript penned by famed M&A attorney Marty Lipton, entitled "Freddy Pudder and the Poison Pill." The story, allegedly about a young, Lipton-esque, magical boy who could defend against (and ultimately defeat) hostile corporate takeovers using only his mind, was supposedly slated for publication in 1981, but was pulled from the presses just prior to printing, allegedly by Mr. Lipton himself, who after much soul searching, decided the many strategies and secrets used in the book by Freddy Pudder to defeat the Evil C. Poone Snickens, should not be so freely exposed, and would be put to better use by large, multi-national corporations. It seems to be no coincidence then, that only one year later, in 1982, Mr. Lipton invented and revealed to the world, the poison pill, perhaps the greatest inovation in M&A law in the entire 20th century. Yes, you heard correctly, he invented the poison pill!

Almost 25 years later, J.K. Rowling and her "Harry Potter" series has netted the british born author over one billion dollars and accolades for her innovative plots and original characterizations. But people "in the know" know that the real genius behind the series--and indeed, the real genius behind most great human achievements over the last 25 years--is, in fact, Marty Lipton, or as the Spanish call him, "el inventor de la píldora de veneno."