We've all read, or at least been assigned, To Kill a Mocking Bird. It's a classic that just about every public school student in America has read by the time they finish high school. Since it's publishing in the 1960's the novel has been subject to controversy, won awards, and even been turned into a movie. So it's no surprise that Harper Lee would have some trouble keeping her trademark novel (as well as her only novel) under her control. However, it's the people she's suing that is causing the commotion. Nelle Harper Lee is suing her home town.
Eighty-seven years old and still kicking, Haper Lee claims that The Monroe County Heritage Museum, as well as a handful of other businesses in the town, are taking advantage of her name and book. The Alabama writer has sued her hometown Monroe County for trademark infringement, saying it is illegally using her fame for its own gain."The museum seeks to profit from the unauthorized use of the protected names and trademarks of 'Harper Lee' and 'To Kill a Mockingbird.'
Though it may seem greedy of Ms. Lee to do such a thing (considering her book still sells about a million copies a year), It is hinted at that Lee isn't actually making decisions about the Lawsuit as the article quote the Lawyer defending the meuseum as saying: "is sad that Harper Lee's greedy handlers have seen fit to attack the non-profit museum in her hometown… Unfortunately for Harper Lee, those handlers are doing nothing but squandering her money with this lawsuit. The museum is squarely within its rights to carry out its mission as it always has."
Read the rest of the article at: http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/18/us/harper-lee-mockingbird-trademark/?hpt=zite_zite5_featured
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