Penguin Gets Steinbeck Back
By Rachel Deahl -- Publishers Weekly, 8/13/2008 2:03:00 PM
As the AP reported, a federal appeals court has overturned a 2006 decision that awarded rights to 10 John Steinbeck titles to the author's son and granddaughter. The new decision returns the rights to Steinbeck's publisher, Penguin.
In the 2006 decision, a judge ruled that the author's heirs should be able to renegotiate the original publishing contract Steinbeck signed in 1938, since no one could have predicted how popular his works would go on to become. As reported elsewhere, the judge who made that 2006 ruling, Richard Owen, said the copyright law allows for renegotiation and "appropriate reward for artistic gifts to our culture."
Speaking to this latest ruling, Penguin gave PW the following statement: "As John Steinbeck’s publisher for over 60 years, we are tremendously gratified by the Second Circuit’s decision. We are pleased that Penguin Group (USA) remains John Steinbeck’s publisher for generations to come. We look forward to continuing to work with all the people involved who share Steinbeck’s distinguished legacy and to further expanding the audience for Steinbeck’s seminal works.”
Penguin, which in 1994 entered into a publishing contract with Steinbeck's third wife, Elaine Steinbeck (who died in 2003), will now revert to publishing the 10 titles--nine novels and one play--as per that 1994 agreement. The titles are: Cup of Gold; The Pastures of Heaven; The Red Pony; To a God Unknown; Tortilla Flat; In Dubious Battle; Of Mice and Men; Of Mice and Men (the play); The Long Valley; and The Grapes of Wrath.
Although the decision seems like a blow to authors' heirs, publishing and entertainment attorney Lloyd Jassin said this is not so. The outcome is "limited to the facts of this case," he explained. "It hasn't, in a global kind of way, said you can't unwind other publishing contracts." According to Jassin, if Elaine Steinbeck had not already renegotiated the original 1938 contract with Penguin in 1994, the 2006 decision likely would have stood.
