ATLANTA, Oct 11: A federal appeals court in Georgia has reaffirmed a May ruling allowing publication of a black writer’s parody of the Civil War-era novel “Gone With the Wind,” saying parody is protected by the First Amendment.

The 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta on Wednesday determined that the “The Wind Done Gone,” a book by Alice Randall, “appropriates numerous characters, settings and plot twists” from “Gone With the Wind;” but was protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution, which guarantees freedom of worship, speech and assembly and a free press.

Joseph Beck, a partner at the Atlanta-based Kilpatrick Stockton law firm who represents Houghton Mifflin Co., said the ruling was “a complete vindication” of “The Wind Done Gone” publisher’s position that Randall’s book is a parody. “Parody, of course, is permissible under the copyright laws.”

However, the three-judge panel ruled that the estate of Margaret Mitchell, late author of the 1936 classic “Gone With the Wind,” may be entitled to monetary damages.

In April, a lower court imposed a preliminary injunction on Randall’s book, saying it infringed on the copyright of the Mitchell estate.

That ban was judged to be prior restraint and overturned by the 11th Circuit Court in May. On Wednesday, the court sent the case back to the lower court, which may now consider whether Mitchell’s heirs are entitled to monetary damages.

The three-judge panel ruled that to the extent the Mitchell Trusts suffered injury from Randall’s “putative infringement of its copyright in ‘Gone With the Wind,’ such harm could adequately be remedied through an award of monetary damages.”—Reuters