James Joyce Estate Agrees To Pay Legal Fees To Professor It Sought To Stifle
from the good-news dept
We wrote in the past about how the estate of author James Joyce tried to use copyright law to prevent a professor from quoting any works from James Joyce or his daughter Lucia Joyce in a biography of Lucia Joyce she was working on. This was, of course, ridiculous, and after many years in court, the estate didn't just lose, but was ordered to pay attorneys' fees as well, totaling more than $326,000. The estate then appealed that as well, but has now agreed to settle, and pay $240,000 in attorneys' fees to the professor, Carol Shloss. While the end result was good, the fact that she had to go through this whole process just to write a biography in the first place is still quite problematic. Abusing copyright law to stifle free speech is always a problem.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Filed Under: carol shloss, copyright, fair use, james joyce, lucia joyce
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Yeah, Right
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Re: Yeah, Right
Also remember that copyright of 1790 was a very limited version of what we get today. Some of us would contend that currently it doesn't resemble original intent at all (Oh Scalia, where are you when you're really needed?)
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Re: Re: Yeah, Right
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Re: the funding fathers
Hmm the funding fathers
Freudian slip here perhaps
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Re: Yeah, Right
Hahaha
Whether intentional or not - still funny!
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mostly just seems to make them all out to be arseholes.
then again, I'm not actually an American, so what do i know?
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Ignorance
Apparently you are ignorant of anything that took place before you were born.
In 1999, Modern Library (Random House) published a ranking of the 100 greatest English language novels of the 20th Century. James Joyce's 'Ulysses' was ranked #1 on that list.
BTW, 'Ulysses' was patterned after the 'Odyssey' written by Homer. Ever heard of him?
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Re: Ignorance
Back to the topic at hand though, I'm glad this has rebounded on the Joyce estate. I wonder if they also argue against books of notes on his works on the same grounds. It is a severe limit on free speech and legitimate criticism and reflects very badly on their contempt for their audience.
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Re: Re: Ignorance
Couldn't agree more, although the writing is truly stunning. However, for a pure display of Joyce's skill, I can't imagine a better example than "A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man".
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Re: Ignorance
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Re: Re: Ignorance
What claim might work best?... the 'invention' of epic poetry? ... or a 'trademark' on Greek national heritage perhaps? I suspect 'copyright' might be a problem given that 2800 year thing.
Not only is there cash to be raised to clear up that budget deficit in Greece, but I bet safeguarding cultural IP would incentivize more innovative literature.
Remember, it's never too late to sue, although sometimes it's too late to win.
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Re: Ignorance
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Re: Ignorance
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