To Kill A Mockingbird author Harper Lee filed a lawsuit against Samuel Pinkus, the son-in-law of her long-time agent Eugene Winick, on Friday for tricking her into signing her novel’s rights to him.
Winick represented Lee for over 40 years, but when he grew ill in 2002, Pinkus began working with Lee and several other clients, reports Reuters.
In 2007, Pinkus allegedly swindled Lee into signing away her copyright to Mockingbird. He arranged the transfer of Lee’s rights to the book so that he receives the interest income from the book.
Pinkus also allegedly did not communicate with publisher HarperCollins who sought out licensing rights for an e-book, nor did he respond to their request for help in releasing a 50th anniversary publication of the novel.
Lee, 87, lives in Monroeville, Alabama and suffers from increasing hearing and eyesight loss. She has no memory of signing any agreement with Pinkus.
In the lawsuit, author Lee is asking for all rights to the book that are controlled and owned by Pinkus. He has also been receiving commission on the book since 2007, which she is attempting to win back.
According to Associated Press the lawsuit says that “The transfer of ownership of an author’s copyright to her agent is incompatible with her agent’s duty of loyalty; it is a gross example of self-dealing.”
To Kill a Mockingbird follows a family of three – Atticus Finch, an attorney, and his two children, Scout and Jem – as the father defends an innocent black man accused of raping a white woman.
The 1960 classic is the only novel that Lee ever published. It won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction, sold over 30 million copies and the film adaptation won three Academy Awards.