Author Of To Kill A Mockingbird Sues Agent For Swiping Her Copyright
from the actual-copyright-theft? dept
I know that the big copyright guys now love to use the term "copyright theft" to describe mere infringement. But if the story presented by Harper Lee, the 87-year-old author of To Kill A Mockingbird, in a new lawsuit is accurate, it appears that she's one of the few actual victims of copyright theft. She's now sued her former literary agent Samuel Pinkus, claiming that he effectively tricked her into signing away her copyright on the work to Pinkus' company, Keystone Literary.Lee, who has failing eyesight and hearing, was residing in an assisted-living facility in 2007 after suffering a stroke when she signed a document assigning her copyright to Pinkus’s company, according to the complaint. While the copyright was re- assigned to Lee last year after legal action and Pinkus was discharged as Lee’s agent, he was still receiving royalties from the novel as of this year, according to the complaint.I've been trying to find the case in PACER and have so far failed (so if anyone has better luck, please let me know -- also shame on the news media for failing to post the actual filing). Though, in doing so, I discovered that Pinkus has been involved in a few other legal spats with authors, including with the heirs of John Steinbeck in a key case about termination rights and copyright.
“Pinkus knew that Harper Lee was an elderly woman with physical infirmities that made it difficult for her to read and see,” Gloria Phares, Lee’s lawyer, said in the complaint. “Harper Lee had no idea she had assigned her copyright” to Pinkus’s company.
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Filed Under: copyright, harper lee, samuel pinkus, to kill a mockingbird
Reader Comments
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What does this have to do with the MAFIAA?
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Re: What does this have to do with the MAFIAA?
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Re: What does this have to do with the MAFIAA?
The shady World of scumbag Lawyers, Accounting, and Big Copyright.
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Re: Re: What does this have to do with the MAFIAA?
That won't get covered on Techdirt, though, because (gasp!) the challenger was getting exactly what had been bargained for and the claim of bogus accounting was bogus.
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Now, what are you basing your claim that EMI's foreign publishers overcharged on? Do you have any evidence of that?
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If the artist can't sell the outright copyright-- as they can't do with so-called "artistic rights"-- then the publishers/purchasers will craft exclusive licenses that do much the same thing.
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Um, the real reason creators create anything? The love of the creative process? The joy they experience when their work is enjoyed by millions?
That is the REAL value of creative work and that makes the great works priceless.
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Copyright was spun as for the benefit of the author, when its real intent was regulation of the printing industry, that is to prevent printers competing by printing the same title.
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"one of the few actual victims" -- Right, if omit movie studios
Good one, Mike. The hyphenated "copyright-theft" insidiously but clearly conflates this fraudulent re-assignment of copyright with ALL copyrighted works, then slants it as if theft of the income from copyrighted works is exceeding rare.
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Re: "one of the few actual victims" -- Right, if omit movie studios
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Re: "one of the few actual victims" -- Right, if omit movie studios
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Re: "one of the few actual victims" -- Right, if omit movie studios
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Today is clearly not one of those days.
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Re: "one of the few actual victims" -- Right, if omit movie studios
Jerry Siegel & Joe Shuster (Superman)
Jack Kirby (Most of Marvel Comics' characters pre-1970)
Apparently the boy's corporate masters paid his bills again.
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Re: "one of the few actual victims" -- Right, if omit movie studios
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Outpaced
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Copyright provided an incentive to create.
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Copyright provided an incentive to create...
Residual income and lawsuits
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Where's Harper Lee's other books? I highly respect her, I studied Mockingbird in school and the movie adaptation is one of my favourite movies of all time, but it seems to me that Lee has failed to live up to the societal contract. She published her book in 1961 and then...stopped. She basically receives money for work she completed 52 years ago, and this is backed up by legal force, which to me is a farce.
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Let me Google that for ya: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=harper+pinkus+complaint+filetype%3Apdf
First result: http://media.publishersmarketplace.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/harperleecomplaint.pdf
It's in federal court because of diversity. It's not a federal question. The causes of action are all state law claims.
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I had Googled exactly that yesterday and Google hadn't been able to find it yet. Nor had PACER.
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Real Reason
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Re: Real Reason
Under the copyright law in effect at the time she wrote it, it would be slated to enter the public domain in 2016, I think, so Pinkus wouldn't have as much incentive to swindle the little old lady in her twilight years. Had it entered the public domain sooner, the swindle wouldn't have happened at all, and she may well have had an incentive to contribute more great works to society.
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The copyright she received for Mockingbird was to encourage her to write Mockingbird--so it worked exactly as it was supposed to. Obviously, that copyright has been a very valuable reward, and it incentivized her quite well given the fact that she wrote the book. That she is not incentivized to write another book is not a failing of copyright law. She clearly can be and has been incentivized by copyright law. She just hasn't been motivated to write another book for her own personal reasons. You could just as well argue that the copyright law isn't strong enough since it didn't incentivize her to write another book.
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Regardless, you suggest she only wrote the book because she knew she could get (at the time) 56 years'-worth of royalties. I believe that it would still have been written even if she could've only gotten, say, 10 years'-worth. Since writing was her true calling, maybe even less than that. And I believe that the prospect of the gravy train coming to an end so "soon" would've helped motivate her to bestow more great works upon the public.
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We can speculate as to what degree copyright and the promise of a lifetime-plus of royalties played in her life and career choices, but to be fair, she doesn't owe the public anything, nor has she made the kind of arguments we're railing against here, and her current dispute has nothing to do with it. I hope I didn't imply those things.
Like I said, I just think of her when I hear defenders of copyright, in litigation and legislation, insist that creativity depends on long, strongly enforced terms.
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I disagree. I can see many personal reasons why Lee didn't wish to write a new book, some of which are well documented. I can see the argument that the fact that she got to live most of the rest of her life with guaranteed royalties for a highly successful debut could have *discouraged* the writing of a further novel.
I can't, however, fathom a person going "well, I'd *love* to write a book, but I'll only get 56 years of royalties so what's the point?". Especially since that term was significantly extended during the time frame being addressed.
I'd love to hear a reasonable argument to say why 56 years is too short but life+X years past death is just enough for a person to say "yeah, let's write this book", but I don't see it being plausible even if money is the only motivator.
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Hey, Maximalists!
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