his eyes must pierce the darkness."įrom "Rotts": ". He must hear what the farmer cannot hear. Haley was questioned by Courlander's lawyer on all 81 passages cited in the suit. The word appears with the same spelling in "The African." He questioned Haley's use of 'Yoo-hooo-ah-hoo" as a slave field call. He suggested a dollar figure at the time that a lawyer for Haley's publisher, Doubleday, said was so large it "would have the effect of saying to Doubleday that 'Roots' was copied substantially from 'The African.'"įrom the beginning fo the trial, Ward expressed amazement that Haley-in 12 years of work-had not read "The African." Haley was paid $1 million for the second series, ABC officials have said.Ĭourlander, 70, who has written about 30 books, earned $14,000 when "The African" was first published and another $14,000 after it was republished following the success of Roots."īefore the defense presented its case, U.S District Cour Judge Robert Ward spent three dyas conferring with both sides, urging them to settle. Haley flew to Los Angeles immediately after today's settlement to tape a preview for a second ABC-TV miniseries based on his second book about his roots, his lawyer said. "Roots" won the Pulitzer Price and was a successful television series. Courlander refused to reveal the amount, citing a pledge of secrecy made by both sides as part of the settlement. Haley spent the afternoon on an airplane and could not be reached for comment. He said he dumped these in a carton and used some of them without knowing their source.Ĭourlander's suit cited 81 mostly brief passages allegedly similar to his novel and asked for half the profits from "Roots." Haley's lawyer and publisher delcined to estimates his earnings from "Rotts," but his royalties had topped $2.6 million on hardcover sales before the paperback appeared.Ĭourtroom sources placed the amount of the settlement at approximately $500,000. Haley said this occurred because he helped to support himself by lecturing during the 12 years he worked on "Roots," and often members of the audience would pass him slips of paper with suggestions. Haley testified last month that although he had not read "The African" before writing "Roots," three brief passages from Courlander's work had been inadvertently incorporated in Ahley's work. The out-of-court settlement came in a copyright infringement suit brought by Harold Courlander of Bethesda in U.S. Washington Post Staff Writers Contributing to this story was Washington Post special correspondent John Kennedy December 15, 1978Īlex Haley agreed to pay a Bethesda, Md., author about $500,000 today and publicly expressed regred that portions of a 1967 novel called "The African" had "found their way" into Haley's best-selling book, "Roots."
0 kommentar(er)
