The latest from NYTimes on J. D. Salinger’s case to shut down a derivative novel.
A federal judge ruled on Wednesday that Holden Caulfield, the precocious protagonist of J. D. Salinger’s most famous work, “The Catcher in the Rye,” will exist at least a little longer solely in a state of permanent adolescence, unburdened by the cares and recriminations of old age. The judge, Deborah A. Batts of United States District Court in Manhattan, granted a 10-day temporary restraining order forbidding publication in the United States of a new book by a Swedish author that contains a 76-year-old version of Holden Caulfield while she considers arguments in a copyright-infringement case filed by Mr. Salinger. His lawyers contend that the new work is too derivative and that the characters in “Catcher” are protected by copyright. The famously reclusive author was not in court. – from NYTimes