NEW YORK () - A U.S. court was wrong to award rights to some of John Steinbeck's best-known novels, including "The Grapes of Wrath," to his son and granddaughter, a federal appeals court ruled on Wednesday.
The appeals court said copyrights to the author's early kit and boodle should belong to newspaper publisher Penguin Group, a unit of measurement of Pearson Plc. The case has been seen as having ramifications for heirs of other artists seeking to control future use of famous works.
Other Steinbeck whole caboodle affected by the ruling include "Of Mice and Men," "Tortilla Flat," and the author's first published novel, "Cup of Gold."
Steinbeck, wHO set many of his books in his native California, received both a Pulitzer Prize and the Nobel Prize for Literature. He died in 1968.
The appeals court decision overturns a 2006 ruling by U.S. District Judge Richard Owen in New York that had granted the rights to about 10 books to Steinbeck's son, Thomas Steinbeck, and granddaughter, Blake Smyle.
Owen had found that heirs could terminate contracts under right of first publication laws to allow artists or their descendants "seize reward for the artistic gifts to our culture."
While the family members had sought to end a 1938 understanding with the publisher by serving a notice of termination in 2004, that notice was not valid, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit aforementioned on Wednesday.
It said Steinbeck's third base wife, Elaine Steinbeck, wHO died in 2003, had entered a new publication agreement in 1994 whose terms should stand.�
More info
