Free speech, copyright infringement and even a bit of unsolicited literary criticism were on the docket yesterday as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit heard oral arguments about whether a book based on J.D. Salinger’s “The Catcher in the Rye” should be barred from being published in this country.
The three-judge panel peppered lawyers on both side of the dispute over Fredrik Colting’s “60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye” with pointed questions about the nature of the book and whether a district court judge had adequately explored whether it was a fair use under copyright law before indefinitely enjoining its publication in the United States.
