A High Court judge yesterday urged further talks between lawyers for the James Joyce Estate and Cork University Press in an effort to resolve a legal dispute over the publication of excerpts from James Joyce's Ulysses in a new 20th century anthology of Irish literature.
Mr Justice Smyth asked both sides to consider further talks between themselves before he issues his judgment on Monday. It could be that his judgment might not find favour with either party, he pointed out.
The Joyce Estate was granted a preliminary injunction against CUP on September 12th restraining the company from further printing or distributing its anthology, Irish Writing in the 20th Century - A Reader. It is seeking that the interim order continue pending the outcome of the main action between the parties. The book, which has already been printed, is edited by Mr David Pierce, a reader in English and Irish Literature at the University College of Ripon and York St John. CUP earlier this year applied to the Joyce Estate for permission to publish an extract from Ulysses in the anthology and was granted a licence subject to a £7,500 fee. However, after a dispute over the size of the fee, the estate refused permission to the company to include the extract.
CUP went ahead with the printing of the anthology using a Ulysses extract taken from a book by Danis Rose, first published in 1997. The Rose book was published when the original copyright on Joyce's work had expired, after 50 years since his death. James Joyce died in 1941.
In October 1993 an EU Directive, which was given effect in Irish law, extended the copyright period by a further 20 years. During yesterday's hearing Mr Justice Smyth suggested a possible solution might lie in CUP publishing the relevant extract from the original edition of Ulysses and not from the Danis Rose work, which is the subject of litigation in England. After taking instructions, Mr Donal O'Donnell SC, for the Joyce Estate, said they would agree to CUP publishing the relevant extract from the original, with the licence fee to be determined by the court.
Mr Paul Gallahger SC, for CUP, said acceptance of this offer would mean the anthology could not be published. The whole book would have to be reprinted at a cost of £92,000 and CUP did not have the resources to do that. Earlier Mr Gallagher asked the court to refuse the Joyce Estate the injunction and said that in return his client was prepared to compromise by making clear that the Ulysses extract it intended to publish was not from the authorised version of the work, but from Mr Rose's, a corrected version of the original. .