Swedish author Fredrik Colting is being sued for creating children’s versions of classic novels.
Colting, who was taken to court in 2010 for publishing an unofficial sequel to The Catcher in the Rye, is now the subject of a suit filed by Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster and the estates of Truman Capote, Jack Kerouac, Ernest Hemingway and Arthur C Clarke.
Under the banner Moppet Books, Colting allegedly infringed copyright of four books: On the Road, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, The Old Man and The Sea and 2001: A Space Odyssey.
“The injury caused by defendants’ infringement is not purely monetary, as it also impacts the reputation of the Novels, their authors and, by extension, the plaintiff heirs and publishers,” reads the complaint. “Reviewers of the Infringing Works for The New York Times, Forbes, The Guardian and The Chicago Tribune have roundly criticized defendants’ expurgated editions of the Novels.”
Colting has previously published 60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye under the pseudonym John David California in the UK but before his death JD Salinger had successfully obtained a court order that stated it could never be released in the US. As the latest complaint reads, Colting had intended for the next adaptation to be The Catcher in the Rye.
In an interview with the New York Times in 2016, Colting stated that the books were not infringing on copyrighted works as they “function as study guides as well as entertainment”.
The suit is demanding that all copies be recalled and profits along with damages be awarded to the plaintiffs.
