New York lawsuit over Anne of Green Gables dropped

A fight over whether a New York production company had the right to produce a new musical based on L. M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables ended Friday with both sides agreeing to the case being dismissed.

A U.S. company called Anne with an E Ltd. filed the case in February against the Anne of Green Gables Licensing Authority, which is jointly owned by the Province of Prince Edward Island and the Heirs of L.M. Montgomery Inc.

Anne with an E was seeking a judgment that its show, Anne of Green Gables: A New Musical, did not in any way infringe upon any trademark or other intellectual property.

In a filing with a federal court in Manhattan, Anne with an E claimed the licensing authority had threatened the company with a lawsuit over its production. The folk-rock musical was first staged in 2018, and the company says it is being developed for Broadway.

The licensing authority has a trademark on Anne of Green Gables images, meaning “words and images depicting the fictional characters, places, and events described in Montgomery’s novel Anne of Green Gables and related novels.”

The books themselves are in the public domain, with Montgomery having died in 1942.

In fact, Anne with an E claimed Montgomery’s works were as much in the public domain as Shakespeare’s.

A filing with the federal court Friday, signed by legal representatives of both parties, said all claims and counterclaims were agreed to be dismissed with prejudice, meaning that not only was this action ended, it cannot be brought back to court.

No further details are available.