Dowd Scheffel files reply brief in Kaffaga v. Steinbeck for appellant Gail Steinbeck

Dowd Scheffel, representing appellant Gail Steinbeck, filed the reply brief in Kaffaga v. Steinbeck, No. 18-5536, in the Ninth Circuit. The opening brief was filed in December. An appeal of a copyright dispute with a tortuous history, this case involves a complex web of past agreements and previous litigation regarding the rights to classic Steinbeck works like The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden. The appeal asks the court to recognize John Steinbeck’s heirs’ termination rights in accordance with 17 U.S.C. § 304(c) and (d) notwithstanding an “agreement to the contrary.” It also asks the court to overturn the lower court’s grant of excessive punitive damages because the appellant did not have a clear understanding of her rights.