SUNTRUST BANK V. HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 268 F.3d 1257 (11th Cir. 2001) CASE BRIEF

SUNTRUST BANK V. HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY

268 F.3d 1257 (11th Cir. 2001)

NATURE OF THE CASE: This was a dispute over whether The Wind Done Gone is a copyright violation of Gone With the Wind. The district court granted a preliminary injunction against publication.

FACTS: Suntrust (P) holds the copyright in GWTW. Alice Randall, the author of TWDG, persuasively claims that her novel is a critique of GWTW 's depiction of slavery and the Civil-War era American South. To this end, she appropriated the characters, plot and major scenes from GWTW into the first half of TWDG. P claims that D copied core characters, character traits, relationships, famous scenes, other elements of the plot and verbatim dialogues and descriptions. D has not contested many of the allegations but argues that there is no substantial similarity between the two works or, in the alternative, that the doctrine of fair use protects TWDG because it is primarily a parody of GWTW. P asked D to refrain from publication or distribution and D refused the request. P filed an action alleging copyright infringement, violation of the Lanham Act, and deceptive trade practices, and immediately filed a motion for a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction. The district court granted the motion, preliminarily enjoining D from 'further production, display, distribution, advertising, sale, or offer for sale of' TWDG. This appeal resulted.

ISSUE:

RULE OF LAW:

HOLDING AND DECISION:

LEGAL ANALYSIS:

Get free access to the entire content for Mac, PC or Online

for 2-3 days and free samples of all kinds of products.

https://bsmsphd.com

© 2007-2016 Abn Study Partner