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Scarlet goes to court
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A BATTLE over the Civil War epic Gone With the Wind went to court on Wednesday, with representatives of the late novelist's estate seeking to stop publication of a parody called The Wind Done Gone.
Margaret Mitchell's estate contends that Alice Randall's novel, which is to be published in June, infringes on the copyright of Gone With the Wind and has sought an injunction.
But Randall's publishers, Houghton Mifflin, backed by a slew of literary figures who have sprung to the defence of first-time novelist Randall, say the author has merely engaged in a time-tested literary exercise of parody. The novel aims to counter Mitchell's work by depicting 19th century Southern plantation life from an African American viewpoint.
US District Judge Charles Pannell heard arguments from both sides at a hearing in Atlanta on Wednesday. Pannell indicated he was likely to rule by late Friday or Monday.
Randall's work is written as the intimate diary of a mixed-race plantation owner's daughter -- who might be a half-sister of Gone with the Wind's Southern belle heroine Scarlett O'Hara .
Some 20 writers last week issued a statement defending The Wind Done Gone that was filed with the Atlanta court.
Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison also filed a declaration to the court, noting what she called the ``pain, humiliation and outrage'' caused by ``Gone With the Wind'' to African Americans and saying that to ``crush the artistic rights of an African American writer seems to me not only reckless but arrogant and pathetic.''(SD-Agencies)
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