Copyright laws are confusing; they can be downright impossible to comprehend or follow, and more often than not, copyright infringement laws involve more than one expert pouring over legal books to determine whether or not a new novel or story is indeed a rip-off of an existing novel or story. One thing is for certain though—J.D. Salinger, author of the great The Catcher in the Rye and creator of the legendary Holden Caulfield, has no tolerance when it comes to rip-offs of the book and Holden. The ninety-year old recluse even turned down an offer from Steven Spielberg to turn the book into a movie. According to Salinger, everything anyone needs to know about Holden Caulfield can be found in the morning. There is nothing more to add.
You can imagine Salinger’s surprise and irritation then, upon discovering that an author known as JD California had published a “sequel” to his book, set 60 years after the events in The Catcher in the Rye, entitled 60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye. The book finds Holden trying to escape from him retirement home at age 76. Salinger is suing both the author and the publishing company for the rights to his character, and to any future “derivative works,” that is, works of fiction that are derived from the original novel. The only way around this rule is if the new novel were a parody of The Catcher in the Rye, or a commentary on the novel. Salinger claims that this is not so, and that the author and publishing company are benefiting from his personal ideas and creative efforts in a pure rip-off.
There seems to be some speculation on the identity of this would-be rip-off author. Most sources claim that “JD California” is a pseudonym, and that the work is actually published by an anonymous author, while Examiner.com claims the true identity of JD California to be Frederik Colting. Either JD California is extremely naïve about Salinger’s protectiveness about his book, or just enjoys being sued. There has never been a Holden Caulfield-, The Catcher in the Rye-, or JD Salinger-related book, magazine article, or story that has gone un-sued by Salinger. In Salinger’s eyes, Holden is his and his alone—anything creative is a rip-off of Salinger’s idea.
It will be interesting to see how this rip-off lawsuit plays out. While Salinger usually gets his way (after all—Holden Caulfield would not exist without him), it seems that the “rip-off” novel might just be ridiculous enough to count as a parody. Keep an eye out for updates on the rip-off lawsuit to see how this all ends.