Literary Parodies and First Amendment

Author Alice Randall and her publisher, Houghton Mifflin, published the novel "The Wind Done Gone," which is a retelling of the classic "Gone With the Wind" (by Margaret Mitchell) from a slave's viewpoint. Mitchell's estate sued, saying that "The Wind Done Gone" was too similar to "Gone With the Wind." The case was settled before a court could rule on it.

But the book might have seemed like a parody of the original, which meant that it was protected from copyright infringement by the "Fair Use" doctrine. Some parodies also are defended under the First Amendment.

The book was published after negotiations with the Mitchell family. The family also required that the book be labeled "An Unauthorized Parody" and author Randall had to make a donation to Morehouse College, an African-American college in Atlanta.

I thought the case related to our discussions about parodies in class. That "unauthorized" tag is often required, as we learned.