The J.D. Salinger estate has settled the lawsuit against Swedish publisher and author Fredrik Colting. The estate had sued the author over his Catcher in the Rye sequel, 60 Years Later–Coming Through the Rye.
Publisher’s Weekly has more details: “Colting has agreed not to publish or otherwise distribute the book, e-book, or any other editions of 60 Years Later in the U.S. or Canada until The Catcher in the Rye enters the public domain. Notably, however, Colting is free to sell the book in other international territories without fear of interference.”
The article reports that Colting cannot include “Coming Through the Rye” as part of the book title. In addition, the author cannot refer to Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, or his legal battles in the book.
Salinger filed the lawsuit against Colting in June 2009 barring him from publishing his unauthorized sequel in the United States. One month later, U.S. District Judge Deborah Battsruled that Colting was not allowed to publish 60 Years Later. Colting’s legal team soon followed-up with an appeal accompanied by a 58-page brief and it proved successful at the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in September 2009.
Salinger, who passed away in January 2010, consistently refused offers to adapt Catcher in the Rye throughout his lifetime. Back in 1953, he sent a note to filmmaker Hubert Cornfield denying the director’s request to turn the book into a movie stating: “I see my novel as a novel and only as a novel.”