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The makers of children’s comedy “Hari Puttar - A Comedy of Terrors” continue to be in trouble. Though the release date has been fixed at Sep 19, it will depend on the next hearing of the case filed by Hollywood studio Warner Bros alleging infringement of their copyright of the ‘Harry Potter’ franchise.

Warner Bros filed the copyright case against Mirchi Movies, makers of the film.

Munish Purii, COO, Mirchi Movies, told IANS that the next hearing will be Sep 2 at the Delhi High Court when a judgement is expected.

The last hearing, scheduled at the Bombay High Court on Aug 25, was cancelled.

Asked what action they planned if the judgement went against them, Purii said: “Let’s wait and watch. We will see what we can do.”

Purii said he is hopeful of a favourable verdict as the title was registered way back in 2005 and feels it has no similarity to the popular “Harry Potter” series.

About the film, Purii said, “It is a 90 minute fun-filled film with four and a half minutes of animation where the two children take the audience for a joy ride.”

“It is a film about two children and the power of presence of mind and how the kids create a lot of hilarious sequences,” he added.

Music is an integral part of the film and the songs have been composed keeping in mind the situations in the story, he said.

“I think the music will be quite outstanding as we have tried to create fun filled music keeping in mind the storyline.”

Besides singers like Sukhwinder Singh, Sunidhi Chauhan, Aadesh Shrivastav, Shaan and Neha Bhasin, new comers like Sameer and Aishwarya of “Sa Re Ga Ma Chote Ustaad” fame have also sung for the movie. The music has been composed by Aadesh Shrivastav and Guru Sharma.

Directed by Rajesh Bajaj and Lucky Kohli, “Hari Puttar” stars Zain Khan, Swini Khara, Jackie Shroff, Saurabh Shukla, Vijay Raaz and Sarika.

Stocks rallied on Thursday, led by major industrial and financial companies, as oil prices eased and data showed the economy grew more quickly than expected in the second quarter.

All three major indexes rose more than 1 percent after the government said strong export growth helped the gross domestic product — a broad measure of economic activity — expand at a 3.3 percent annual rate between April and June, above an initial estimate of 1.9 percent.

That lifted the fortunes of large industrial companies. Shares of Caterpillar (CAT.N), often described as an economic bellwether, rose more than 3 percent.

A brighter economic outlook coupled with a management shake-up at top U.S. mortgage finance company Fannie Mae (FNM.N) boosted bank shares, which led the broader market’s gains.

“Today’s data on GDP was encouraging, and that is what investors really want to see: a tick up in the economy,” Bruce Zaro, chief technical strategist at Delta Global Advisors in Boston.

James Paulsen, chief investment officer at Wells Capital Management in Minneapolis, said “you hate to be underweight stocks when you have an economy that is performing better than expected.”

The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) was up 187.27 points, or 1.63 percent, at 11,689.78. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (.SPX) was up 14.45 points, or 1.13 percent, at 1,296.11. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) was up 25.76 points, or 1.08 percent, at 2,408.22.

A late morning retreat in the price of oil, of more than $2 sparked a fresh round of stock buying and eased concern about constraints on consumer and business spending.

Earlier, crude jumped above $120 a barrel but fell after the International Energy Agency pledged to help with additional supply if Tropical Storm Gustav damages U.S. oil and natural gas facilities in the Gulf of Mexico.

Financials got a boost from news late on Wednesday that Fannie Mae reshuffled its top management ahead of implementing a plan to preserve capital and cut losses. Shares rose 14 percent at $7.39. Shares of Freddie Mac (FRE.N), the other government-sponsored home finance firm, rose 11,2 percent to $5.28.

The management shake-up “shows that Fannie Mae is trying to get the ship moved in the right direction,” said Arthur Hogan, chief market analyst at Jefferies & Co. in Boston.

MBIA (MBI.N) was the biggest percentage winner among Big Board stocks, jumping 27.1 percent to $15.20 after the bond insurer said on Wednesday it plans to reinsure a $184 billion portfolio of investment-grade U.S. public finance credits.

The S&P Financial Index (.GSPF) rose 3.1 percent.

Shares of heavy equipment maker Caterpillar gained 3.1 percent at $71.74. The stock got a boost when Chief Executive Jim Owens said Caterpillar’s business in China could double by 2010.

The slide in oil hurt energy shares, with an index of energy companies (.GSPE) slipping 1 percent.

Upscale U.S. jeweler Tiffany & Co (TIF.N) shares rose 10.7 percent to $43.87 after it posted a higher-than-expected profit.

U.S. home prices fell 4.8 percent in the second quarter compared with a year ago, a new record low, according to a government report.

The government index for the April-June period, released Tuesday by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight focuses on less expensive properties and includes fewer houses bought with risky home loans that have gone sour over the past year.

The previous record annual drop in the index’s 17-year history was 3 percent and was set from January through march of this year.

The government index also fell 1.4 percent from the first quarter to the second quarter. That was a smaller drop than the record quarterly decline of 1.7 percent set in the first quarter.

As the housing market has turned into a bust over the past year, the most severe price declines have been seen in Western states. California’s prices fell by nearly 16 percent, while Nevada’s prices fell by 14 percent.

Also showing big price declines were Florida, where prices fell 12 percent, Arizona, where they fell 9 percent, and Rhode Island, where they fell by 5 percent.

“The most overbuilt areas of the country — including California, Nevada, Arizona, and Florida — contrast greatly with most other states, where prices are declining more moderately or even increasing,” OFHEO Chief Economist Patrick Lawler said in a statement. Prices in the weakest markets, he said, have receded to late-2005 levels.

OFHEO regulates the government-sponsored mortgage finance companies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Under the housing bill signed by President Bush last month, its functions will be folded into a new agency, the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

Also Tuesday, a widely watched index released Tuesday showed home prices dropping by the sharpest rate ever in the second quarter. The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller national home price index tumbled a record 15.4 percent during the quarter from the same period a year ago.

Stocks extended their advance Thursday after a better-than-expected reading on the nation’s economy and a drop in jobless claims. The major indexes rose about 1 percent, including the Dow Jones industrial average, which gained nearly 200 points.

Stocks rose as oil prices, up in early trading, reversed course.

The Commerce Department said gross domestic product rose at an annual rate of 3.3 percent for the April-June period, as a weaker dollar helped boost U.S. exports. That exceeded the government’s initial estimate of a 1.9 percent increase as well as economists’ forecast of a 2.7 percent gain.

The growth marked the economy’s best performance since the third quarter of last year, when GDP rose at a 4.8 percent pace.

Investors closely watch GDP to determine whether the economy is picking up momentum after being pounded by housing woes and a debilitating credit crisis. The economy grew at a weak rate of 0.9 percent in the first quarter and actually shrank in the last three months of 2007.

Also Thursday, the Labor Department said the number of newly laid off people seeking jobless benefits fell for the third straight week. The number of claims dropped to a seasonally adjusted 425,000, down 10,000 from the previous week. That was slightly better than the 427,000 expected by analysts surveyed by Thomson/IFR.

But economists consider claims above 400,000 an indicator of a slowing economy. Companies have cut jobs every month this year as they grapple with rising energy costs and tighter credit.

“We didn’t get a whole lot of new information,” said Charlie Smith, chief investment officer at Fort Pitt Capital Group in Pittsburgh, referring to the reports. He noted that trading remains light ahead of the long Labor Day weekend.

“Exaggerated reactions tend to happen when you have thin trading,” he said.

In early afternoon trading, the Dow rose 188.25, or 1.64 percent, to 11,690.76 after rising more than 115 points over the past two sessions.

Broader stock indicators also rose. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index advanced 12.80, or 1.00 percent, to 1,294.46, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 21.09, or 0.89 percent, to 2,403.55.

Bonds fell as investors moved into stocks. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, rose to 3.79 percent from 3.77 percent late Wednesday. The dollar rose against other major currencies, while gold prices rose.

Investors are also watching oil prices as Tropical Storm Gustav churns toward the Gulf of Mexico on a course that could collide with oil and gas platforms. But strength in the dollar helped drive down the price of oil.

Light, sweet crude fell $2.47 to $115.68 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The decline in oil made energy stocks one of the few areas of weakness Thursday.

Devon Energy Corp. fell $4.83, or 4.5 percent, to $101.94, while Hess Corp. fell $2.40, or 2.2 percent, to $104.74.

In corporate news, Sears Holdings Corp. said its second-quarter profit fell 62 percent as weak consumer spending continues to hamper store sales. The retailer earned $65 million, or 50 cents per share, in the three-month period ended Aug. 2. That compares with $173 million, or $1.15 per share, in the year-ago period. The stock rose $3.90, or 4.5 percent, to $90.88.

Tiffany & Co. jumped $4.18, or 11 percent, to $43.79 after reporting that its second-quarter profit doubled as sales rose by double-digit percentages in Asia and Europe.

Zale Corp. forecast a fiscal 2009 profit above what Wall Street had expected, though it warned that same-store sales may decline. The specialty jeweler also reported a fiscal fourth-quarter loss as it continued reducing inventory levels. Zale rose $4, or 17 percent, to $27.15.

Investors have been looking to retailers’ results for information not only about the companies, but about consumers’ ability to spend. Several upbeat reports Wednesday from retailers helped buoy Wall Street’s confidence in the economy.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by more than 2 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 459.2 million shares.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 8.13, or 1.11 percent, to 741.08.

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei stock average rose 0.12 percent. Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 1.32 percent, Germany’s DAX index fell 1.57 percent, and France’s CAC-40 jumped 2.02 percent.

Sales of new homes rose in July, but still fell short of economists’ expectations, and home prices continued to sink.

The Commerce Department reported Tuesday that new-home sales rose by 2.4 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 515,000 units, the most since April. But sales in June had plummeted to a pace of just 503,000 — down from previous estimates of 530,000 — to mark the worst showing since September 1991.

Economists forecasted sales to drop in July, but expected the pace to be around 525,000. Given June’s sharp downward revision, the level of home sales in July turned out to be less than analysts were anticipating.

Even with the over-the-month increase, new-home sales are down a whopping 35.3 percent from last July, underscoring just how much the housing market has eroded. However, David Seiders, chief economist at the National Association of Home Builders, is looking for the pace of new-home sales to stabilize in the second half of this year.

Home prices also continued to sag.

The average price of a new-home sold in July was $294,600, down 4.1 percent from a year ago. The median home price — where half sell for more and half for less — was $230,700, down 6.3 percent from last year.

“Buyers have the upper hand. Builders responded with price cuts,” Seiders said.

A separate report, released Tuesday, showed that home prices dropped by the sharpest rate ever in the second quarter. The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index tumbled a record 15.4 percent during the April-June period.

The National Association of Realtors reported Monday that sales of previously-owned homes rose in July as discounts lured buyers. However, the number of unsold properties hit an all-time high, an indication that the worst housing slump in decades is far from over.

Fallout from the housing crisis is one of the biggest problems facing the country. It has figured prominently into the economy’s sharp slowdown. Foreclosures have climbed to record highs, financial companies have chalked up multibillion-dollar losses, and home builders have been clobbered.

Earlier this month, Horsham, Pa.-based homebuilder Toll Brothers Inc. reported dismal third-quarter results as its revenue fell 34 percent and its order backlog plunged 52 percent. Atlanta-based Beazer Homes USA Inc. also reported a difficult third quarter, as revenue fell by 40 percent.

Consumers have watched their single-biggest asset slump in value, making them feel less wealthy and less inclined to spend.

“It’s clear it will still take some time to work though the downturn in housing,” said White House spokesman Tony Fratto. “Once housing prices stabilize that will signal a return to a housing industry that can contribute to economic growth.”

A growing number of analysts believe the economy will hit another deep pothole later this year as the bracing effects of the government’s tax rebates fades.

The Federal Reserve, however, can’t afford to slice interest rates further to bolster the fragile economy out of fears it will worsen inflation. The Fed in June ended its most aggressive rate-cutting campaign in decades. Economists believe the Fed will leave rates alone when it meets next on Sept. 16, as well as through the rest of this year.

Even with the government’s housing-rescue package signed into law by President Bush last month, foreclosures are expected to keep rising into next year.

Meanwhile, there’s questions about the future ability of mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to supply money for home loans. The two companies have cut back the availability of mortgages as they cope with growing losses from foreclosures. The companies’ stocks have been hammered recently as investors become increasingly convinced that a government bailout will be needed.