The publisher of the new book by Alice Randall has been granted the right of an expedited appeal against an injunction granted last week at the request of the Mitchell Trust, which owns the copyrights in Margaret Mitchell's original work.
In granting the injunction, the judge described the new novel, an account of life at a plantation narrated by the daughter of a black slave woman and the white plantation owner, as “unabated piracy” of the original. Randall argued that it was a parody of the original and should be protected under the First Amendment to the US Constitution.
Four copies of the Randall novel were offered on eBay, with bids reaching $485. The company removed the auctions at the request of a lawyer for the Mitchell Trust who feared that the whole book would end up being published on-line.