Suntrust Bank v. Houghton Mifflin Company

268 F.3d 1257 (11th Cir. 2001)

Facts

Suntrust (P) holds the copyright in GWTW. Alice Randall, the author of TWDG, persuasively claims that her novel is a critique of GWTW 's depiction of slavery and the Civil-War era American South. To this end, she appropriated the characters, plot and major scenes from GWTW into the first half of TWDG. P claims that D copied core characters, character traits, relationships, famous scenes, other elements of the plot and verbatim dialogues and descriptions. D has not contested many of the allegations but argues that there is no substantial similarity between the two works or, in the alternative, that the doctrine of fair use protects TWDG because it is primarily a parody of GWTW. P asked D to refrain from publication or distribution, and D refused the request. P filed an action alleging copyright infringement, violation of the Lanham Act, and deceptive trade practices, and immediately filed a motion for a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction. The district court granted the motion, preliminarily enjoining D from 'further production, display, distribution, advertising, sale, or offer for sale of' TWDG. This appeal resulted.