Parties Halt ‘Mockingbird’ Author’s Suit Against Ala. Museum

A federal judge threw out To Kill a Mockingbird author Harper Lee’s trademark suit against a historical museum in her hometown of Monroeville, Ala., Thursday after attorneys for both sides filed a joint motion for dismissal, reports the Associated Press.

The one-sentence order by U.S. District Judge William H. Steele ends the on-again, off-again case launched in October by Ms. Lee, who said the Monroe County Heritage Museum was improperly exploiting her Pulitzer Prize-winning 1960 novel in selling a wide range of Mockingbird-related merchandise. To Kill a Mockingbird takes place in a fictional Alabama town modeled on Monroeville.

The two sides settled in February, but Ms. Lee sought to reinstate the suit last month, claiming the museum was trying to change the terms. Judge Steele told the 88-year-old author and the museum to each pay their own costs and attorney fees, but other terms of the order were not disclosed.