From Publishers Weekly :
The Devault-Graves Agency filed a lawsuit against the J.D. Salinger Literary Trust in a Tennessee court on March 16, claiming that the estate has, without legal basis, thwarted the press’s attempts to publish and distribute international editions of its collection of early Salinger short stories, Three Early Stories .It seems to me quite a trick for the Salinger estate to stake a claim to stories for which Salinger never held copyright.
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June 7, 2015: The Salinger Trust has asked that the suit be dismissed.
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October 20, 2015: The case has been transferred to New Hampshire Federal Court.
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December 11, 2015: Devault-Graves is dropping its lawsuit.
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December 12, 2015: More: “If the law in their home country backs our copyright, then the Salinger Trust cannot prevent publication in that country,” Devault said. “Our decision to withdraw the lawsuit is certainly no loss for us. We’ve essentially put the Salinger Trust on notice that we will defend our right to publish in every foreign market that is legitimately open to us. It is merely a new way of looking at the equation.”
And still more: “Despite Salinger’s opposition, Graves told [Publishers Weekly ] that the publisher has licensed the book to 10 foreign publishers, and that there are now six foreign editions in print.”
An aside: David Shields and Shane Salerno’s claim (in their biography Salinger ) that a volume of new Salinger work will appear in 2015 is beginning to look doubtful.
[I wrote about Three Early Stories last year.]
comments: 13
Back when I worked in a bookstore and Salinger was still alive a tiny press called Orchises Press announced that it was going to publish a few Salinger stories (maybe the same ones), with the author's approval. I called up the publisher, who didn't seem particularly prepared for the onslaught he was about to face, and placed an order, but the deal fell through and nothing ever came of it.
Yes, that’s a sad story. In case you haven’t seen it: the publisher told his story in 2010.
"...to stake a claim to stories for which Salinger never held copyright." There are many ways a copyright is created, and the assertion that a work shown to someone constitutes assigning it to public domain or transfer of copyright by "intention" will not stand in court. Europe's copyright is death year and seventy, while Canada's is death year plus fifty, for all works of a given author. I'd take the case for the estate, and win. It is not a matter of whether one likes the decision or not, but of what the law specifies.
I’m note sure what transferring copyright or showing a work to someone has to do with these stories. As far as I understand, Salinger never copyrighted the stories. (If he had, Devault-Graves would not have been able to publish them.) If there’s no copyright, I don’t understand how the Salinger estate can stake a claim.
There are a number of ways one may copyright, but the most common is simply by creating something, a fact generally not known to the populace. When one creates a work, it has a copyright unless specifically it is disseminated with a provision stating it is being placed in the public domain. Various versions of copyright statements, such as the normal and the Creative Commons sorts, are overt statements. But before and underlying these is the "unwritten" identification of an author as copyright holder. Thus, unless Devault-Graves can show a legal copy of a copyright assignment from the author to them as publishers, they are in trouble legally. The estate, on the other hand, only needs to show that the estate holds all other works in copyright and that this was the work of the author. That is enough. Ergo the problem sits squarely on the desk of this publisher. Show the signed contract, or it's a losing proposition. In the sheer act of putting his name on a story, Salinger de facto made a copyright claim. Period. The remaining question is who controls it now?
From a 2014 article about Three Early Stories: “The stories were never (‘ever,’ according to Graves) registered to Salinger. Three Early Stories with its illustrations — together with high editorial standards and clean layout — means that the Devault-Graves Agency has its own copyright to the edition.”
And the press was able to publish the book. In other words, the Salinger estate could not stop its publication. The question now is whether the book can be distributed outside the United States.
"...registered to Salinger." This does not mean that subsequent litigation will not fully place the copyright with the estate. The future outcome for this tale is not yet written, but it is assured than the laws of Canada and Europe will be involved, and in that regard, the last change in Europe "clawed back" some public domain items into the private ownership of estates and publishers, in order to "harmonize" the whole. I still wager a fin against the Devault-Graves folks. "Registered" as they mention is only one way to affirm a copyright. It is not the only way, and if that is their argument in court, the estate will have the Digital Millennium Copyright Law on its side of the argument, not to mention Canadian and European law. We shall see, when judgment by the court is rendered.
Going back to look more closely at the article, one finds a "confession" of sorts. "...the contract’s time limit passed. I lost the book on June 1." Were I a trial lawyer, that alone would break the assertion of copyright, and probably prove violation of the estate's rights. Whatever the contract's terms, as he testifies that he did not meet them, he has lost the case therein. Copyright is something that is not "now you see it, now you don't." It is more like a paper trail of evidence or title search on an asset or property. I side with the estate and imagine they might move further to request financial damages, if pushed.
Yes, I’m curious to see what will happen.
I hadn’t seen your 11:03 comment when I wrote mine. I think you’ve been writing about the “Hapworth” saga. My comments have all been about the Devault-Graves book. No doubt, anyone who tried to publish “Hapworth,” anywhere, would be in deep trouble.
"Devault-Graves released the U.S. edition of the title, which includes three stories from early in Salinger's literary career which had fallen into the public domain..." From the Publisher Weekly article, this line speaks a great deal, and not in favor of their case. While there are potential precedents on both sides, the rule today in Europe, for example, is death year and seventy -- not fifty, which the article mentions from the old treaty. The new rules apply, which one can read about in the Wiki article, amusingly about Puccini's Butterfly. Many other examples abound. All in all, the complaint of Devault-Graves is that the estate is relying on European law (and probably Canadian as well) in governing. I guarantee this will be the argument, and it is forceful. That something had fallen into public domain did not stop the EU's formative treaties from clawing back works in the public domain which estates and publishers asserted would be theirs to administer under the new law. To "harmonize" all, the new law and treaty supersede the older. Many examples of public domain works by authors taken back into copyright from the public domain in 1995 by these laws and treaties are available as precedent for the estate to argue, while the Devault-Graves argument tries to return to Switzerland of 1887. Roll the dice?
A most interesting development in terms of this small "story" you document.
The Amazon reviews contain "fan mail," as is to be expected, but also "Price for these extremely short stories (I purchased the digital copy) is exorbitant." For three ten-page-or-so stories, they are now in paperback and Kindle via Amazon from Devault-Graves. Will you purchase a copy of the Devault-Graves edition?
Out of curiosity, I've already found them online to read via sites not governed by US copyright laws.
I wager the attorney "net billable hours" to the estate and this publisher are now the real profitable tale to be told. This makes one think of Shakespeare's line....
As I say in this post, “I wrote about Three Early Stories last year.” As I say in that review, I received a review copy (which I requested).
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