KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The parties in a legal battle over copyrights to two books by author Laura Ingalls Wilder have reached a tentative settlement under which a southern Missouri library district would get $875,000.
Wilder, who died in 1957, wrote "Little House on the Prairie" and other books about pioneer life that spawned the popular TV series.
In 1999, the Wright County Library Board filed a federal lawsuit claiming copyrights to all of Wilder's books. The board argued Wilder intended for her copyrights to pass to the library after the death of her daughter, Rose Wilder Lane. After Lane's death in 1968, the copyrights were passed to a friend, Roger Lea MacBride.
Last year, a federal judge dismissed the board's claim to royalties from six other Wilder books. Then in January, a Jackson County probate judge ruled the library has a legitimate claim to the "Little Town on the Prairie" and "These Happy Golden Years" royalties.
Now New York-based HarperCollins Publishers and Wilder's heirs have tentatively agreed to contribute $875,000 to get the library district to settle the lawsuits, The Kansas City Star reported Tuesday.