William Faulkner estate sues defence contractor over use of his words

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/nov/02/william-faulkner-estate-sues-defence-contractor

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Fresh from launching legal action against Sony, the estate of William Faulkner is now suing over the use of the author's quote "we must be free not because we claim freedom, but because we practice it" in an advertisement.

The quote is taken from an essay by Faulkner called "On Fear: The South in Labor", published in the June 1956 edition of Harper's Magazine. It was used, claims the suit filed in a Mississippi court by Faulkner Literary Rights LLC, in a full-page ad from defence contractor Northrop Grumman Corporation, which ran in the Washington Post on 4 July last year, and then on Northrop's website. The estate says that "Northrop did not seek or receive Faulkner's permission before publishing the Infringing Advertisement on its website", and that "Northrop and/or the Post wilfully and intentionally infringed upon Faulkner's exclusive rights".

The estate is seeking damages, disgorgement of profits, costs and attorney fees because it believes the use of the quote, and of Faulkner's name, in the ad could cause readers to believe that there is a connection between Faulkner and Northrop, a military contractor. "Northrop did not have Faulkner's consent to appropriate William Faulkner's name or his works for Northrop's advantage," alleges the suit.

The Northrop ad also includes a large picture of the American flag, and the text: "On July 4th, 1776, The members of the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, making us a free nation. We're thankful for our freedom and for those who continue to keep us safe."

But the essay from which the allegedly infringing Faulkner quote was taken is actually, according to the estate, a reflection on the aftermath of the landmark Brown v Board of Education case, in which America's supreme court outlawed segregated schools. It continues: "our freedom must be buttressed by a homogeny equally and unchallengeably free, no matter what color they are, so that all the inimical forces everywhere - systems political or religious or racial or national - will not just respect us because we practice freedom, they will fear us because we do."

The latest legal action follows the Faulkner estate's move against Sony Pictures Classics and a group of movie exhibitors last week, over the film Midnight in Paris's use of the line: "The past is not dead! Actually, it's not even past. You know who said that? Faulkner. And he was right. And I met him, too. I ran into him at a dinner party."

The quote is a riff on the well-known line from Faulkner's novel Requiem for a Nun: "The past is never dead. It's not even past."