Book News: Court Reverses Steinbeck Rights Ruling
Michael Rogers -- Library Journal, 8/14/2008 9:13:00 AM
- 2006 ruling in favor of son and granddaughter overturned
- Rights revert to Steinbeck’s widow’s heirs and Penguin Group
- Works include Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath
The 2nd U.S. Court of Appeals August 12 overturned a 2006 ruling that gave the rights to ten of John Steinbeck’s works to the author’s son, Thomas, and granddaughter Blake Smyle, and returned the rights to his widow Elaine’s heirs and publisher the Penguin Group. According to the AP, the court said the initial ruling misapplied copyright law in awarding rights to the works, which include Of Mice and Men, The Red Pony, Tortilla Flat, and The Grapes of Wrath, to the author’s son and granddaughter. When he died in 1968, Steinbeck left the rights to Elaine along with $100,000 in trusts shared equally by his two sons. When Elaine died in 1994, she bequeathed the rights to her children and grandchildren from a former marriage, leaving nothing to Steinbeck’s family. The original suit alleged that Elaine, Steinbeck’s third wife, propagated a “30-year hidden conspiracy” to withhold a greater percentage of the author's estate than she deserved.
