Asked to comment specifically on the ZendURL version, however, Scholastic did not respond. The Web page was still available Tuesday evening.
Scholastic said it had been dealing with reports of online postings of the carefully guarded book for several months.
Once they began spreading on the Internet, the publisher had persuaded the operators of two popular websites -- YouTube and MySpace -- not to allow postings of the material.
In a separate case, the publisher said it had initiated court action against another website, gaiaonline.com, owned by Gaia Interactive Inc. in San Jose, to persuade it to take down the Harry Potter material it had posted.
As the day wore on, however, the news about the posted manuscript became impossible to suppress.
Popular websites, including Salon.com and Gawker.com, had stories about the leak. Some offered links to sites where visitors could read the material. At Salon, readers engaged in a spirited debate over whether the website should have run the material and whether it constituted a copyright infringement.
Amid the hubbub, booksellers were not worried that the leaked pages would affect sales.
"Oh no, no, no, no. It won't impact sales. People want this book no matter what," said Jennifer Ramos of Vroman's Bookstore in Pasadena.
Still, many fans took steps to protect themselves from spoilers. Potter websites such as the Leaky Cauldron (www.the-leaky-cauldron.org) went so far as to shut down fan discussion forums until Saturday, for fear of spoiler postings.
Others might go to even greater lengths.
"I think I might just avoid the Internet for a while, at least until Saturday," said Loreli Alba, 17, a high school senior in San Jose.
josh.getlin@latimes.com
Times staff writers David Sarno, Martha Groves and Amy Kaufman contributed to this report.
