Penguin wins back rights to Steinbeck's early novels
Pearson's Penguin Group regained the right to publish 10 of John Steinbeck's novels after a federal appeals court reversed a ruling in favor of the late author's son and granddaughter.
The decision today by the U.S. Court of Appeals in New York validated Penguin's 1994 license agreement with Steinbeck's widow to publish the works in the U.S. and Canada. The author, who won a Nobel Prize for Literature, died in 1968; his wife, Elaine Steinbeck, died in 2003.
Penguin, based in New York, appealed a 2006 Manhattan federal court ruling that gave publishing rights to the author's only surviving son, Thomas Steinbeck, and granddaughter, Blake Smyle. They sought to invalidate the license by asserting termination rights over Steinbeck's 1938 publishing deal.
Elaine Steinbeck "exhausted the single opportunity provided by statute to Steinbeck's statutory heirs to revisit the terms of her late husband's original grants of licenses to his copyrights," the appeals court said in the opinion.
The lower court terminated the 1938 deal, citing a clause of copyright law that permits heirs to forcibly renegotiate licensing terms. The unanimous three-judge panel of the appeals court threw out the ruling, saying the accord was already superseded by Elaine Steinbeck's 1994 deal, which increased her royalties on retail sales.
"The language of the 1994 agreement makes clear that the parties intended that the 1938 agreement be terminated," the appeals court said in the ruling. "The notice of termination is therefore invalid."
Steinbeck, born in the Salinas Valley, won the 1962 Nobel Prize for literature. The publishing license includes "The Grapes of Wrath," written in 1939, and "Tortilla Flats," written in 1935, and other early books.
The author assigned the copyrights to Elaine Steinbeck in his will, while Thomas Steinbeck, a son by a previous marriage, received $50,000, according to court papers. His widow, the author's third wife, specifically excluded from her will her husband's sons and their heirs.
Penguin and Elaine Steinbeck's heirs sued the author's son and granddaughter in 2006 -- two years after the publisher received a so-called license-termination notice. Penguin sought a court declaration that its license was valid.
Pearson, based in London, is the world's largest education publisher and owner of the Financial Times newspaper.
Mark Lee, a lawyer for Steinbeck's son and granddaughter, didn't immediately comment.
