Posted on 05/04/2013 1:41:37 PM PDT by ConservativeStatement
Harper Lee, the author of To Kill A Mockingbird, has sued her literary agent for allegedly duping her into assigning him the copyright on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel.
In the lawsuit filed in federal court in Manhattan, Lee says Samuel Pinkus, the son-in-law of Lee's long-time agent, Eugene Winick, took advantage of her failing hearing and eyesight to transfer the rights on the book, which has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide and became an Oscar-winning film.
The 87-year-old says she has no memory of agreeing to relinquish her rights or signing the agreement that cements the purported transfer.
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
To Kill a Mockingbird - Oh that’s the book about the Duke rape case right?
Interesting
Personally, I think Truman Capote wrote it.
why?
He was extremely disappointed by what, from his point of view, amounted to a misrepresentation or case of bait and switch.
Lucky for him the teacher didn't follow up with Of Mice and Men.
Too efffing bad.
Copyright was meant to last fourteen years. Extendable once.
How about if the builders of every bridge and every road get tolls in perpetuity?
Lets put this thing in the courts and see if both of them can’t come out bankrupt.
LOL!
I think it is bizarre that her one and only attempt at writing just happened to sell 30 million copies. For me, this is just amusing speculation, kind of like wondering if the works of Shakespeare were written by Shakespeare or by someone else.
agree.
And I understand Harper Lee really wrote "In Cold Blood".
Hard to tell when you only hear a single side of the story, however ‘senior fraud’ is all too common. It would be interesting to learn what benefit she received from transferring her rights for no money (if true). Given her sole book’s firm place in the literary field, the old-time latin maxim of ‘qui bono’ (who benefits) seems to become important.
That she never capitalized on the book's success with another novel has long fueled speculation that it was not her production.
Capote, as good a friend as he was of Lee, would have been incapable of not taking credit had he, in fact, been the author. He drank enough so that he would have let the truth slip sooner or later, somewhere or other.
I take her at her word that the success floored her. That would be an awful thing to feel one had to equal or repeat.
I do have a soft spot for Jem and Scout. Best book I was ever forced to read in Mrs. Sydney’s 8th grade English at St. Isidore’s.
What a scoundrel! You don’t take advantage of elderly women like that.
You really think living authors shouldn’t receive royalties from continuing sales of their work?
What an amazingly conservative novel she wrote. I read it every year with my juniors and I love pointing out all of the conservative elements!
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