Litigating (With) Dick and Jane

by John-Michael Maas, PW NewsLine -- Publishers Weekly, 1/18/2005

Little, Brown's, Yiddish with Dick and Jane, a surprise holiday hit, has delighted the many who received it as a gift. Lawyers for Pearson Education, however, are less amused.

Pearson, the publishers of the original Dick and Jane educational series earlier this month filed suit against Little, Brown as well as authors Ellis Weiner and Barbara Davilman and illustrator Gabi Payne, alleging copyright infringement. Liz Dubelman, president of VidLit.com, which produced a phenomenally successful online audiovisual promotion for the book that received in excess of two-million hits over six weeks, was also named.

LB put a sizeable disclaimer on the back of the book which states: "This book is a parody and has not been prepared, approved, or authorized by the creators or producers or the 'Dick and Jane' reading primers for children." And the lawsuit acknowledges discussions between Pearson and Little, Brown prior to publication. "While disagreeing with LBC's (Little Brown & Company's) assertion that the infringing work was protected under fair use doctrine, the plaintiff determined not to take any further action at that time." Somewhere between those discussions and the huge success of the book, though, Pearson decided it should.

One more possible motive for the suit can be found in Pearson's filing, which mentions that the company has licensed the characters to Columbia Pictures for an upcoming remake of Fun with Dick and Jane starring Jim Carrey and Tea Leoni. Neither party could be reached for comment by press time.