(Charlottetown) American producers of a musical on Anne… Green Gables have filed a lawsuit in New York, claiming their show does not harm PEI’s most famous export.
The lawsuit filed last week in court for the Southern District of New York by the show’s producers alleges that Lucy Maud Montgomery’s novel is no longer copyrighted and is in the public domain along with the Shakespeare’s plays.
The producers say the Anne of Green Gables Licensing Authority – jointly owned by the province and the heirs of Lucy Maud Montgomery – sent them a letter of demand affirming ownership of the mark and requesting that Anne of Green Gables: A New Musical be renamed.
The lawsuit says thatAnne… Green Gables is in the public domain because the book was published in 1908 and should have entered the public domain in 1983, according to US copyright law.
She claims that the Anne of Green Gables Licensing Authority is brazenly trying to monetize and extend the life of an “expired copyright”.
The Anne of Green Gables Licensing Authority had not responded to The Canadian Press at the time of this writing.
The producers seek declaratory relief that their musical “does not infringe any trademark or other intellectual property right.”