Publisher seeks to drop suit against J.D. Salinger's family
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) - A publisher that sued J.D. Salinger's widow and son, saying they interfered with efforts to sell three stories written by "The Catcher in the Rye" author, said Friday that it wants to drop the lawsuit.
Tennessee-based Devault-Graves Agency LLC, which specializes in reprinting old works, published the short stories in the United States last year in an e-book and in paperback. Written in the 1940s, they first appeared in magazines. Copyright protections had expired for "The Young Folks," ''Go See Eddie," and "Once A Week Won't Kill You."
When Devault-Graves sought to publish them internationally, Colleen and Matthew Salinger objected, saying that would violate foreign copyright laws. Devault-Graves sued in March, accusing the Salingers of hindering its business relationships with foreign literary agents and publishers, some of whom ended their contracts with Devault-Graves.
Devault-Graves said the stories are in the public domain. It sought a ruling affirming that it is entitled to publish the stories in up to 168 countries that have signed an international copyright agreement.
The Salingers wanted the case dismissed, saying a judge would have to evaluate a series of complicated questions of international copyright law on a country-by-country basis. Their lawyers noted a court in Germany stopped an effort to publish a German translation of the stories, saying they still had copyright protection.
The dismissal notice, subject to a judge's review, was filed Friday in federal court in Concord.
Devault-Graves said in a statement that the book has already been published in several foreign markets. It said the decision to drop the lawsuit "is certainly no loss for us." It said it 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."
A lawyer for the Salingers didn't immediately return a message seeking comment.
Salinger died in 2010 at age 91 in Cornish.