Political Discussions
Coming Through The Rye a Copyright Violation
Posted by satijournal • 7/09/09 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: copyright
In a victory for the reclusive writer J. D. Salinger, a federal judge on Wednesday indefinitely banned publication in the United States of a new book by a Swedish author that contains a 76-year-old version of Holden Caulfield, the protagonist of “The Catcher in the Rye.”
In a suit filed on June 1, lawyers for Mr. Salinger in the copyright infringement lawsuit contended that the new work was derivative of “Catcher” and Holden Caulfield, and infringed on Mr. Salinger’s copyright.
The work by Mr. Colting, 33, centers on a 76-year-old “Mr. C,” the creation of a writer named Mr. Salinger. Although the name Holden Caulfield does not appear in the book, Mr. C is clearly Holden, one of the best-known adolescent figures in American fiction, aged 60 years.
Mr. Colting’s lawyers argued, among other things, that the new work, titled “60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye,” did not violate copyright because it amounted to a critical parody that had the effect of transforming the original work.
www.nytimes.com/2009/07/02/books/02salinger.html
Should Salinger have copyright protection for the character he created in the 50s? Have copyright laws gone too far?
User Comments
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Seems bloody silly to me. It's one thing to copyright protect a book. But a character? Especially a character who has clearly been developed in a new and original way?
Copyright laws are supposed to promote the production of knowledge and culture, but sometimes it feels like they do just the opposite.
I wonder how firm the ground under the court's decision is. Perhaps it will still be overturned?-
Current patent laws are even worse. Brought progress to a virtual standstill. Very unAmerican
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Seems sensible to polybore even if it has knocked on the head one's own novel "Like a Fart in the Wind" detailing the further adventures of a love lorn and recently spurned young lady.
If this sort of thing were allowed a novelist could find that they publish their first novel one day only to find the next that their lovingly crafted characters have been hijacked and are spawning sequels over which they have no control.-
kinda like fanfic?
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Is there a way to craft any middle ground?
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Not really fanfic are hardly ever published (in the traditional sense of the term publish), even when it is, then only when permission has been explicitly given by the original creator.
edit Mark, suppose middle ground would be when the original creator gives permission. Although this would not be possible in this case. However if the estate of a writer has not been explicitly instructed to not allow derivative works then you could imagine it doing so to increase income for beneficiaries. -
I can see there could be problems with it. I just don't know if this is one of those cases
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Don't many copyright hold the no derivatives part though? If that is the case the judgment was sound.
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