Judge bans 'sequel' to Salinger work

NEW YORK, July 1 (UPI) -- A book depicting a 76-year-old version of J.D. Salinger's Holden Caulfield character from "Catcher in the Rye" cannot be published, a U.S. judge says.

U.S. District Judge Deborah Batts expanded a temporary publication ban into an indefinite one Tuesday in New York, ruling against Swedish author Fredrik Colting, whose new novel was targeted by the reclusive Salinger, The New York Times reported.

Batts granted a request by Salinger to indefinitely ban the U.S. publication of Colting's book, titled "60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye," saying it was an unauthorized sequel to "Catcher" and thus constituted copyright infringement.

The Colting book is about a 76-year-old man named "Mr. C," the creation of a writer named Mr. Salinger. Batts determined that even though the name "Holden Caulfield" does not appear in the book, "Mr. C" is clearly the famous Holden, the Times reported.

Colting's lawyer's argued the copyright laws didn't apply because "60 Years Later" was a critical parody that, in fact, transformed Salinger's original.