Tuesday, December 2, 2014

More twists in heirs’ battle over Steinbeck works

More twists in heirs’ battle over Steinbeck works


San Jose >> The plot has thickened in the ongoing legal battle to determine who controls the estate of literary giant John Steinbeck.
The latest tousle between the author’s heirs began two weeks ago, when two federal lawsuits were filed within three days. One, by Steinbeck’s biological descendants, seeks to have the estate of Steinbeck’s widow stop optioning rights to some of the Salinas author’s works, including to high school stage productions of “Of Mice and Men.” The other, by the estate, accuses Steinbeck’s son of slander and seeks to reaffirm a its right to manage Steinbeck’s canon.

“We look forward to litigate their claims because we believe they are not legally found,” said Susan Kolhmann, an attorney for Steinbeck’s estate.
The saga over copyrights of Steinbeck’s estate stretches back to a 1983 settlement that gave widow Elaine Steinbeck “complete power and authority to negotiate” the late author’s works.
Despite that case, on Nov. 7 Thomas Steinbeck and Blake Smyle, the son and granddaughter of the author, sued Waverly Scott Kaffaga, the executor of the estate of Elaine Steinbeck, who died in 2003. The complaint alleges copyright infringement over three of the author’s works, including The Red Pony, The Long Valley and the amateur stage rights to “Of Mice and Men,” arguing the rights belong to them.

Thomas Steinbeck’s wife, Gail Steinbeck, is representing both her husband and Smyle in the litigation through her firm, The Palladin Group Inc.
Gail Steinbeck declined to say whether the family is seeking an amendment to the 1983 settlement, but added that the question is best left to a court.
“They just don’t want the Steinbeck family to have anything. We look forward to our day in court. We would be delighted to put this up on jury trial,” Gail Steinbeck said.
Three days after the descendants’ suit was filed, Kaffaga lodged a separate suit Nov. 10 targeting Thomas and Gail Steinbeck, as well as the Palladin law firm, alleging a breach of the 1983 settlement and “irreparable damage” to Kaffaga’s copyright ownership due to slanderous claims.
 
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“We filed the complaint because Thom and Gail and The Palladin Group were intentionally interfering with our ability to properly exploit and protect the Steinbeck works, causing damage and irreparable harm,” Kolhmann said.
Thomas Steinbeck has a history of filing largely unsuccessful claims over his father’s works.
Kaffaga’s complaint attributes several failed business opportunities to Thomas and Gail Steinbeck’s “interference.” They include a 2012 promotion for Salinas’ National Steinbeck Center that would have included a concert by the band Mumford & Sons, as well as efforts to plan an anniversary celebration and documentary film on The Grapes of Wrath in 2013.

In 2013, Thomas and Gail Steinbeck launched a copyright battle over potential remakes of “The Grapes of Wrath” and “East of Eden” by DreamWorks Studios. The couple “threatened potential business partners ... with litigation” if they worked on the project, Kaffaga’s suit said.
“We brought our suit to say to them, ‘a court decision is a court decision,’ and they should respect that,” Kolhmann said.
Ana Ceballos can be reached at 726-4377.

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