‘Catcher’ Ruling Will Discourage Other Would-Be Parodies?

A “sequel” to The Catcher in the Rye written by Swedish author Fredrik Colting, a.k.a. “J.D. California,” has been kyboshed by Manhattan judge Deborah Batts, the ABA Journal reports..

The judge ruled that the new book infringed the copyright of the original novel’s author, J.D. Salinger, rejecting claims that 60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye was transformative and thus a fair use of Salinger’s original work.

The judge said the new book simply rehashed themes of the original, and did not qualify for the “parody” copyright exception, which has been successfully utilized by books such as The Wind Done Gone, which was found to be a true parody of the original novel Gone With the Wind.

Could it be that the attempted Catcher parody was seen, as Holden Caufield might have said, as being a trifle “phony?”

- Bill Rogers, Student-at-Law, Toronto

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