Suntrust Bank v. Houghton Mifflin Co.
| Company type | Court case |
|---|---|
| Industry | Legal |
| Founded | 2001 |
| Headquarters | United States |
| Products | Legal ruling on copyright and fair use |
Suntrust Bank v. Houghton Mifflin Co. represents a significant ruling by the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit concerning the copyright ownership of Margaret Mitchell's 1936 novel Gone with the Wind. The appellate court overturned a prior injunction that had prohibited the publisher of Alice Randall's 2001 parody, The Wind Done Gone, from distributing the work.
While the court recognized that various characters from Gone with the Wind were protected under copyright law and determined that The Wind Done Gone had "appropriated numerous characters, settings, and plot twists," it ultimately held that this use fell within the boundaries of fair use.
This judgment affirmed that producing and distributing a well-executed parody novel in the United States can constitute fair use. It built upon the precedent set by the 1994 decision of the United States Supreme Court in Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc., which permitted commercial parody in music, thereby extending fair use safeguards from musical compositions to literary works. The ruling functions as binding authority within the Eleventh Circuit.
Following Houghton Mifflin's commitment to make a donation to Morehouse College, Mitchell's estate chose to discontinue litigation.
See also
External links
- Suntrust v. Houghton Mifflin Co., 268 F.3d 1257 (11th Cir. 2001)
- OpenJurist
- Google Scholar
- Locating Copyright Within the First Amendment Skein by N. W. Netanel, 54 Stanford Law Review 101