US appeals court rules for Sorkin's 'Mockingbird' play in copyright dispute

By Blake Brittain

July 29 (Reuters) - The developers of the 2018 Aaron Sorkin stage adaptation of Harper Lee's seminal novel "To Kill a Mockingbird" convinced a U.S. appeals court on Tuesday to rule against the owners of the book's 1990 stage adaptation, who had attempted to block "second-class" and amateur performances of the newer play under federal copyright law.

Upholding a trial judge's order, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit said that after Lee reclaimed her rights to the 1990 adaptation from the Dramatic Publishing Company, the company lost its right to block Atticus LLC's "non-first-class" performances of the 2018 version.

Attorneys for the companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the decision.

Lee wrote "To Kill a Mockingbird," her classic Southern novel about Scout Finch and her honorable attorney father Atticus, in 1960. She granted Dramatic the right to develop a stage adaptation of the book in 1969. Their contract said that Dramatic's version would be "the only one the amateur acting rights of which [Lee] will permit to be leased and/or licensed."

Lee terminated the contract and reclaimed her rights under U.S. copyright law in 2011. She gave producer Scott Rudin's company the right to produce what became the Sorkin adaptation in 2015. That company later assigned its rights to Atticus LLC.

Sorkin's adaptation was first staged in 2018 after Rudin's company resolved a separate lawsuit from Lee's estate alleging that the play deviated too far from Lee's novel.

An arbitrator found in 2019 during a previous dispute between Atticus and Dramatic that the latter maintained its exclusive right to "non-first-class" theater performances of "To Kill a Mockingbird" despite Lee's termination. Atticus filed a lawsuit in New York challenging the arbitrator's ruling, and a federal judge ruled for Atticus in 2023.

The 2nd Circuit agreed with the lower court on Tuesday that Dramatic did not have the right to block Atticus from allowing amateur performances of Sorkin's play following Lee's termination of Dramatic's contract.

The case is Atticus LLC v. Dramatic Publishing Co, U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, No. 23-1226.

For Atticus: Wook Hwang of Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton

For Dramatic: Willy Jay of Goodwin Procter

Read more:

Harper Lee estate sues Broadway's 'To Kill a Mockingbird' play

Broadway's 'To Kill a Mockingbird' may be scrapped in legal flap

Broadway's 'Mockingbird' play to go ahead after dispute settled