Federal Court Allows Aaron Sorkin's TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD Adaptation to be Staged Nationwide

BroadwayWorld previously reported that the producers of the Broadway adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird sought to prevent small theaters around the country from staging an earlier dramatization of the novel. Meanwhile, the publisher of the earlier adaptation of the novel was seeking the stop the Broadway version of To Kill a Mockingbird from being staged at a variety of venues. The New York Times has reported that a Federal District Court judge in New York decreed that Aaron Sorkin's adaptation could be staged in venues throughout the country.

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The new adaptation features a script written by Aaron Sorkin. The earlier adaptation features a script by Christopher Sergel, and has been staged in schools and community theaters for decades. 

Judge Denise L. Cote determined that production of Aaron Sorkin's version of To Kill a Mockingbird, produced by Scott Rudin’s Atticus Limited Liability Company, did not infringe on any interest held by the Dramatic Publishing Company, which owns the copyright to the Sergel play. Dramatic Publishing Company contended that its Sergel script was the only one that could be performed in most theaters that are not part of Broadway, the West End or a national tour.

“Atticus and Aaron Sorkin have the right, in relation to Dramatic, to present any and all performances of the Sorkin play,” wrote Judge Cote, of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, in an August 1 ruling.

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