Court Holds That Unlicensed Children’s “Kinderguides” of Classic Novels Violate Copyright Act

A U.S. district court in New York recently held that child-focused literary guides infringed the copyrights in four famous novels, ruled that the guides did not qualify as fair use, and granted summary judgment in favor of the owners and exclusive licensees of the copyrights in the novels.

This article explores Penguin Random House LLC v. Frederick Colting, in which the copyright owners and exclusive licensees of the copyrights in the renowned novels Breakfast at Tiffany’s, The Old Man and the Sea, On the Road, and 2001: A Space Odyssey sued Frederick Colting and Melissa Medina (d/b/a Moppet Books) over their publication of a series of children’s books, called “Kinderguides,” which contained—according to defendants—“condensed” and “simplified” versions of classic novels.