A panel of US judges determined that the play did not breach an exclusive copyright grant
An Aaron Sorkin-penned stage adaptation of Harper Lee’s classic novel “To Kill a Mockingbird” has cleared a copyright hurdle raised by The Dramatic Publishing Company, reported Courthouse News Service.
A panel of three US Second Circuit court judges determined that the Broadway play did not breach Lee’s 1969 exclusive copyright grant. The exclusive grant was rescinded by the author in a move that returned to Lee the right to authorize new small-stage adaptations of her work.
The Dramatic Publishing Company, which held the initial stage play copyright applicable to amateur productions, had sued Atticus LLC, which had obtained a copyright grant from Lee in 2015 through Rudinplay, the New York theater production company owned by Hollywood producer Scott Rudin. Atticus LLC is the rights holder for Rudinplay.
A lower court granted Atticus LLC declaratory relief against The Dramatic Publishing Company, a ruling supported by the US Second Circuit court. In his 58-page opinion, US Circuit judge Richard Wesley rejected Dramatic’s citation of the 1976 Copyright Act in its argument.
“The derivative works exception does not point in a different direction,” Wesley wrote in a snippet of the opinion published by Courthouse News Service. “In other words, the right to prevent further stage adaptations of ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ for non-first-class productions — the upshot of Dramatic’s claimed exclusive license here — is part of the copyright in ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ itself.”
US district judge Denise Cote also said that Dramatic’s interpretation of the Copyright Act hindered its plain language, “rendering any exclusive license interminable.”
Sorkin’s liberties
Rudinplay had engaged screenwriter Sorkin to write a “To Kill a Mockingbird” stage adaptation. Before the play opened, Lee’s estate filed a suit against Rudin in Alabama on the grounds that Sorkin’s script took excessive liberties with the novel in violation of Rudinplay’s contract with the author, which stipulated that the play “not derogate or depart in any manner from the spirit of the novel nor alter its characters,” per a snippet published by Courthouse News Service.
Sorkin’s script had presented a morally ambiguous take on the novel’s lead character, Atticus Finch, and beefed up the presence of Black characters like Tom Robinson and Calpurnia.
Rudinplay shot back at Lee’s estate with a New York suit seeking $10 million in damages; the suit was eventually settled, and Sorkin acquiesced to cutting out scenes of Atticus Finch cursing and drinking. The stage adaptation opened on Broadway in December 2018 with actor Jeff Daniels playing Atticus Finch.
The US Second Circuit court panel remanded the case for further consideration of the US$200,000 fee the lower court granted to Atticus LLC in attorney’s fees. In addition to Wesley, the other judges on the panel were Denny Chin and Myrna Pérez.
