J.D. Salinger lawsuit

[WaylonJennings]

The famous recluse is suing an author who has written a sequel to "Catcher in the Rye," with a 76-year-old Holden Caulfield as the protagonist:

http://blogs.wSportsJournalists.com/law/2009/06/02/a-closer-look-at-the-jd-salinger-lawsuit/

Should be interesting. Wish that he would emerge for other reasons than the chase kids off his lawn.

 

[britwrit]

Didn't this whole practice of literary ringing-and-running get tired back in, oh, 1973? I mean, I can see the thrill in Salinger-baiting... I suppose.... but the guy's ninety. Isn't it time to give it a rest?

The only fitting coda to this is when he teeters out onto his front yard next month and publicly burns his five sequels to Catcher, all the while laughing manically.

 

[I Digress]

Assuming Holden Caulfield and Catcher in the Rye are copyrighted, isn't Salinger in the right here?

 

[Twoback]

At some point, when you're as famous for being a recluse as anything you've accomplished in your life, it's just sad.

 

[Starman]

Assuming Holden Caulfield and Catcher in the Rye are copyrighted, isn't Salinger in the right here?

Yeah, I'm pretty sure under American copyright law you can't use previously-copyrighted characters as basis for new works without the permission of the rightsholders, except in the case of clear satire (which appears to be the basis of the defense).

 

[Michael_ Gee]

Of course, the suit will end when the defense tries to depose the plaintiff. Recluse is a tough gig if you're gonna be consistent about it.

 

[RickStain]

Assuming Holden Caulfield and Catcher in the Rye are copyrighted, isn't Salinger in the right here?

Reading the lawyer they have in the link, it seems a bit murkier than that.

Copyright law is always weird and hard to navigate.

 

[ColbertNation]

Of course, the suit will end when the defense tries to depose the plaintiff. Recluse is a tough gig if you're gonna be consistent about it.

They'll send Ray Kinsella to find him.

 

[WaylonJennings]

Assuming Holden Caulfield and Catcher in the Rye are copyrighted, isn't Salinger in the right here?

Reading the lawyer they have in the link, it seems a bit murkier than that.

Copyright Law is always weird and hard to navigate.

Went ahead and fixed that for you!

 

[topsheep]

The wanna-be publisher of the sequel is a fraud. He really is.

 

[finishthehat]

Of course, the suit will end when the defense tries to depose the plaintiff. Recluse is a tough gig if you're gonna be consistent about it.

OTOH, he did successfully stop the publication of some of his letters by lawsuit a while back. Not sure if he had to be deposed, though.