The author of ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ has settled a lawsuit against her local museum which was using her name but not compensating her.
Harper Lee, 87, filed the lawsuit against the county museum in her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama. The museum had featured her name and the book’s title on merchandise it was selling.
The book was Lee’s only literary piece. It gained her a Pulitzer Prize and has never been out of print since it was published in 1960. Before she suffered a stroke, Lee divided her time between New York and Monroeville which is populated by 28,000 people.
The lawsuit claimed the museum took advantage of Lee’s trademarks to sell souvenirs and used the book title as a website address without any compensation. The museum took in more than $500,000 in 2012, according to the lawsuit.
The museum opposed the application, saying souvenir sales were vital to its continued operation.
Details of the settlement have not been released but the museum has changed its website.
Lee’s novel tells the tale of small-town lawyer Atticus Finch, his two children and the struggle against racial prejudice and injustice in the American south. Gregory Peck starred in the film version.
