"To Kill a Mockingbird" Lawsuit for Stealing Copyright

Newsflash from your Hollywood Attorney:

In May, Harper Lee, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of To Kill a Mockingbird, filed a blockbuster lawsuit alleging that her former literary agent Samuel Pinkus had “engaged in a scheme to dupe" her into assigning the valuable copyright to her book. According to Lee's lawsuit, Pinkus created shell companies and bank accounts to route the book's royalties before he was eventually pressured into assigning the copyright back to Lee.

Pinkus still hasn't directly answered that lawsuit, which was filed in a New York federal court. But the agent is also fighting a second, related lawsuit. On Friday, in that other dispute, Pinkus addressed the charge that he took advantage of an 80-year-old author's declining hearing and eyesight to grab hold of one of the literary world's most lucrative properties.

According to a motion that was filed on behalf of Pinkus and his companies:
"Ms. Lee's assignment of the Mockingbird copyright specifically retained to her 'all rights to any revenue, financial benefit, royalties, or any benefit whatsoever derived from the exploitation of the Property, now or in the future.' The inconvenient real facts make for a much less interesting story."

The above passage comes as footnote within a motion to dismiss.
Read it here in full.... http://www.scribd.com/doc/156813715/Pinkus-Motion

Pinkus is looking to swat away a lawsuit brought by the literary agency of McIntosh & Otis, which is demanding almost $780,000 in owed money plus being appointed as a receiver of his company's assets.

Pinkus once worked at M&O. There, he followed in the footsteps of his father-in-law, Eugene Winick, to handle representation of Lee, mystery writer Mary Higgins Clark, the Joy of Cooking trusts and others. In the middle part of the last decade, Pinkus split from M&O to set up his own agency, Veritas Media Inc., setting off several rounds of mediations and arbitration over entitlements to commissions.

In the midst of this came Pinkus' alleged scheme to defraud Lee.

In the author's lawsuit, Lee identified a motive for what had happened. Lee's lawsuit said:
             "Pinkus's motive for engaging in this conduct appears related to his efforts to avoid M&O's efforts to collect on a judgment that it had recovered against VMI in a New York arbitration over entitlement to commissions on the works and authors (including Harper Lee) that Pinkus had diverted from M&O during Eugene Winick's illness. To avoid that judgment against VMI, Pinkus created several different companies to handle the receipt of royalties and commissions and directed the payment of royalties to a continually changing series of bank accounts. Pinkus also assigned Harper Lee's copyright, yet again, from VMI to another company that he controlled and signed foreign licenses on Harper Lee's behalf granting rights at times when Pinkus knew that he owned the copyright in TKAM and that Harper Lee could not validly transfer the licensed rights."

One month after Lee filed her lawsuit against Pinkus and his companies, M&O followed up with its own complaint in New York state court. In that latter litigation, Pinkus was alleged to have made many moves -- including on To Kill a Mockingbird -- that had the effect of frustrating M&O's attempt to collect money it was due.
Read the full complaint.... http://www.scribd.com/doc/156813697/Pinkus-Lawsuit

Who is not involved, but should be?
According to Pinkus' attorney, Harper Lee should have been named as a defendant in this lawsuit, because the author is also making a claim to Mockingbird money: "In other words, both M&O and Ms. Lee assert an entitlement to any commissions relating to Mockingbird, including the escrow funds held by the Publisher. Because any judgment entitling M&O to the escrowed funds would necessarily prejudice the rights of Ms. Lee, she is an indispensable party to this action."

Read More.... http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/kill-a-mockingbird-literary-agent-594919

http://lawofficesofjonathanfranklin.blogspot.com/

Law Offices of Jonathan Franklin
Open Evenings and Weekends this Summer
Call Us Now (310) 273-9600   
 http://www.jonathanfranklinlaw.com

Harper Lee Copyright Lawsuit for "Kill A Mockingbird"

 Author of best-selling book alleges Samuel Pinkus took advantage of her failing hearing and eyesight to transfer rights.

To Kill a Mockingbird author, Harper Lee, receives the Presidential Medal of Freedom from George W Bush in 2007. Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Harper Lee, the author of To Kill A Mockingbird, has sued her literary agent for allegedly duping her into assigning him the copyright on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel.

In the lawsuit filed in federal court in Manhattan, Lee says Samuel Pinkus, the son-in-law of Lee's long-time agent, Eugene Winick, took advantage of her failing hearing and eyesight to transfer the rights on the book, which has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide and became an Oscar-winning film.

The 87-year-old says she has no memory of agreeing to relinquish her rights or signing the agreement that cements the purported transfer.

Winick had represented Lee for more than 40 years. When he became ill in 2002, Pinkus diverted several of his father-in-law's clients to his own company, the lawsuit said.

According to the lawsuit, in 2007 Pinkus "engaged in a scheme to dupe" Lee into assigning the novel's copyright without any payment and had since failed to respond to licence requests.

To Kill a Mockingbird is the only published book by the author, who lives in Monroeville, Alabama, and is rarely seen in public.

It is also alleged that Pinkus failed to respond to offers on e-book rights and a request for assistance related to the book's 50th anniversary.

The lawsuit asks the court to assign any rights in the book owned by Pinkus to Lee and requests that he hand over any commission he took from 2007 onwards.

Read More... http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/may/04/harper-lee-kill-mockingbird-copyright?CMP=twt_gu