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Lawyers for Swedish author Fredrik Colting, and his US distributor SCB Distribution have filed an appeal against the injunction barring publication in the US of Colting's novel 60 Years Later: Coming Through The Rye, a supposed sequel to The Catcher in the Rye written under the pseudonym John David California.
According to Publishers Weekly, the appeal offers six arguments against the injunction including that it wrongly presumes "irreparable harm", without any evidence of actual harm; that it extends copyright protection to character Holden Caulfield even though Colting's book is "not substantially similar" to any copyrightable elements in Salinger's work; and by finding that Colting's book does not comment upon or criticise Salinger sufficiently to constitute fair use. A finding for the defendants on any one of the six arguments could serve as the basis for reversing the injunction.
On 1st July, District Court judge Deborah Batts issued a preliminary injunction barring the publication of what Salinger's attorneys called an unauthorised sequel to The Catcher in the Rye.
After the ruling, Aaron Silverman, president of distributor SCB, said "We're hopeful that the hearing will be in late July or early August and have an answer by early September at the latest."