Lawsuit claims”Anne is in the public domain just as much as Shakespeare’s plays are.
The people who are making a new musical based onAnne of Green Gableshave filed a lawsuit against the Anne of Green Gables Licensing Authority in P.E.I., saying that their work doesn’t violate any of the authority’s trademarks.
In the lawsuit, which was filed Tuesday in New York’s Southern District Court, the producers say that the Anne Authority is “brazenly” trying to extend the life of an expired copyright for L.M. Montgomery’s famous book set on Prince Edward Island and make money from it.
The company wants a judge to say that the title of their play “does not violate any trademark or other intellectual property rights.”
The Anne Authority is owned by the Province of PEI and Ruth and David Macdonald, who are Montgomery’s heirs.
Anne With an E, LLC, is a production company based in New York.A New Musical About Anne of Green Gables.The folk-rock-styled play was first put on in July 2018, and according to the lawsuit, plans are in the works to bring it to Broadway.
Anne of Green Gables, the novel, In 1983, in the United States, and in 1992, in Canada, the public could use the work. This happens a certain amount of time after an author dies, and it usually means that the work can be changed without having to pay any fees.
But Anne of Green Gables is trademarked by the Anne of Green Gables Licensing Authority, which has worked to control and protect new versions of Anne, even though the book is now in the public domain.
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In the New York lawsuit, however, the producers say that Anne is “as much in the public domain as Shakespeare’s plays.”
According to court documents, the producers filed the suit after the licensing authority sent a draft version of a trademark infringement complaint and threatened to file it in court if the play wasn’t renamed. The authority said that the show had to have a new name by Monday, February 20.
The Anne Arundel Authority did not respond to CBC News’ request for comment on Wednesday.
The longest-running musical in Canada is based on the story of Anne of Green Gables. It is performed at the Confederation Centre of the Arts on Prince Edward Island. The center recently announced that, starting in 2024, Anne of Green Gables: The Musical will now be put on every other year.