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Harper Lee sues agent over To Kill a Mockingbird copyright
Guardian UK ^ | May 4, 2013 | David Batty

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 ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: book; books; copyright; harperlee; lawsuit; lee; literature; nosympathy; tkam; tokillamockingbird; toobad; workmore
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To: kabumpo

Nah. The authors of the constitution knew what they were about and the limitations are to keep people active.

Also, fees for copyright registration need to be paid annually and lapse 8f not maintained. They also need raised to cover the full cost of copyright enforcement as that relates to government resources. No more free ride.


61 posted on 05/04/2013 4:42:05 PM PDT by MrEdd (Heck? Geewhiz Cripes, thats the place where people who don't believe in Gosh think they aint going.)
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To: ken5050
There's a quite good movie about it..."Infamous"..Sandra Bullock plays Harper Lee, and the guy who plays Capote has him down cold..

Toby Jones.

62 posted on 05/04/2013 4:53:19 PM PDT by 0.E.O
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To: ConservativeStatement

She didn’t Scout her literary agent too well


63 posted on 05/04/2013 4:54:23 PM PDT by SeminoleCounty (GOP - Greenlighting Obama's Programs)
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To: ConservativeStatement

“The 87-year-old says she has no memory of agreeing to relinquish her rights or signing the agreement that cements the purported transfer.”

I’m sure she has no memory of writing the book either, since she didn’t


64 posted on 05/04/2013 4:58:05 PM PDT by Figment
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To: ConservativeStatement

NOTICE TO READERS: You can find a copy in the White Guilt Lit & Vid section of your local bookstore.


65 posted on 05/04/2013 4:59:39 PM PDT by Revolting cat! (Bad things are wrong! Ice cream is delicious!)
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To: Born to Conserve
I did not like the troublemakers and just naturally took the side of the locals against the migrants. I refused to read the book when it was assigned in high school.

Aside from the fact it is a very good book, I think it was a mistake not to read “To Kill A Mockingbird” when it was assigned to in HS because I think you are confusing it with some other movie you watched. It’s sort of like saying, “hey I listened to that Steppenwolf song once, I think it was in some hippy movie about bikers, after that I had no desire to read “Call of the Wild”. : ),

66 posted on 05/04/2013 5:00:11 PM PDT by MD Expat in PA
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To: SeminoleCounty
She didn’t Scout her literary agent too well

Obviously she doesn't know "Boo" about picking one out either.

67 posted on 05/04/2013 5:02:15 PM PDT by 0.E.O
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To: billorites

“I wonder though, concerning regional bigotry, would she have been received differently if she hailed instead from, say, Oxford, Mississippi?”

I don’t think it would have mattered. Mississippian John Grisham is viewed by the East Coast literati with utter contempt. Actually, not even contempt — just snickering. A lawyer! From Mississippi! What law school did you say he went to? Hilarious!

Faulkner’s acceptance was hard-won and grudging in academia. They can ignore his racist-redneck-Southerness because he’s looked on not so much as a Southerner but as a member of the Fraternity of Drunk Mad-as-a-Hatter writers. Hemingway’s brother if you will. And they looooooooove Hemingway. And drunks.

Other Southern women writers — McCullers, Welty — are safe from the wrath of the East Coast syndicate because they simply don’t sell like Harper Lee and are not such a threat to their cultural hegemony. Nobody else comes close to the numbers she sells every year.

P.S. Hemingway also wrote one good novel in his lifetime, though he kept trying. Nobody ever suggests he didn’t write “The Sun Also Rises.”


68 posted on 05/04/2013 5:02:50 PM PDT by Blue Ink
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To: Figment
I’m sure she has no memory of writing the book either, since she didn’t

Evidence to the contrary notwithstanding.

69 posted on 05/04/2013 5:03:22 PM PDT by 0.E.O
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To: Blue Ink

A lot of people hold John Grisham in contempt. And I am one of them. And it has nothing to do with where he is from (I’m a Louisiana boy, and had kin in Mississippi before they died of old age).

No, my gripe against Grisham is that he simply lacks the talent to write well, but he thinks of himself as a literary master. Many successful authors do not write well, but many of them acknowledge it and don’t hold themselves out to be the second coming of Mark Twain or Charles Dickens.

As far as contemporary fiction writers, Nelson Demille is light years superior to John Grisham.

John Grisham is to writing talent as Roseanne Barr is to singing talent.


70 posted on 05/04/2013 5:16:16 PM PDT by ought-six ( Multiculturalism is national suicide, and political correctness is the cyanide capsule.)
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To: JoeProBono

She even looks like Jem in that picture.


71 posted on 05/04/2013 5:20:44 PM PDT by Jemian (Happy Easter! He is risen!)
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To: 0.E.O

Margaret Mitchell only wrote one book. OTOH, she had done other writing prior to that book.


72 posted on 05/04/2013 5:22:19 PM PDT by Jemian (Happy Easter! He is risen!)
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To: Blue Ink
And she went to the University of Alabama.

This does speak poorly of her judgment.

73 posted on 05/04/2013 5:31:08 PM PDT by Jemian (Happy Easter! He is risen!)
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To: goodwithagun; kabumpo
Your post #42.

Not only that, he both physically and sexually abused Mayella.

Thank you for your observation and I know you have made a number of telling points elsewhere. I should have posted to you, as well as Kabumpo in my original post. I will still stick to my original take on the portrayal. That being the noble, misunderstood and abused black person. Next the absolute lowest of the low white trash.

We can agree to disagree and when my spouse has these films on the television, I take note. I might mention Sydney Portier in say, such as "To Sir With Love" and so on. A portrayal of a saint no less (smile).

That is Hollywood for you.

74 posted on 05/04/2013 5:35:29 PM PDT by Peter Libra
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To: Argus; MrEdd
You really think living authors shouldn’t receive royalties from continuing sales of their work?

It appears that he thinks after a "fair" period, operators of toll bridges should be told "you didn't build that" and use should be free for all.

75 posted on 05/04/2013 5:38:29 PM PDT by Oztrich Boy (RIP Chrissie Amphlett.)
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To: ought-six

“A Painted House” is as good as anything as any East Coast darling of that generation has written.

Yet no awards, professorships, prizes or grants from the East Coast junta for Grisham.

Since he met all the other criteria with that one book, It has to be because he’s from Mississippi and didn’t go to Harvard.


76 posted on 05/04/2013 5:52:59 PM PDT by Blue Ink
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To: GreenHornet
I remember an episode of “Get Smart” that was a parody of “The Maltese Falcon.” Max was trying to locate the “Tequila Mockingbird.”

No. The Maltese Falcon parody was "Max Smart, Private Eye" where Max and 99 are sequestered from CONTROL.

"“Tequila Mockingbird.” was a title to indicate a South of the Border episode, which was actually a parody of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

"Confused? you won't be after this week's episode ... "

77 posted on 05/04/2013 6:07:50 PM PDT by Oztrich Boy (RIP Chrissie Amphlett.)
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To: billorites

I agree with you completely. He never could have kept that a secret. Plus I think he was envious of the book.


78 posted on 05/04/2013 6:10:14 PM PDT by stylecouncilor (Bazinga!)
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To: Peter Libra
I take note. I might mention Sydney Portier in say, such as "To Sir With Love" and so on. A portrayal of a saint no less (smile).

That is Hollywood for you.

Actually, "That is Pinewood for you"

To Sir With Love and everybody associated with it was British. Even Sir Sidney Poitier, Knight Commander of the British Empire, was only accidentially American.

79 posted on 05/04/2013 6:24:48 PM PDT by Oztrich Boy (RIP Chrissie Amphlett.)
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To: Oztrich Boy
Your correction well taken here.
Indeed I did not spell the esteemed Sidney Poitier’s name properly. I also had the studio name incorrectly. It is most gratifying to see that the United Kingdom has heaped honours on this saintly and perfect human being.

I will aver that he thinks very highly of himself however.

80 posted on 05/04/2013 6:36:30 PM PDT by Peter Libra
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