‘Mockingbird’ Spat Shows Benefits of Light Touch on Copyrights

Winning a copyright battle can mean losing a public relations war.

Broadway producer Scott Rudin endured a wave of criticism after sending letters to at least eight community theater groups that had planned to perform the play “To Kill a Mockingbird” with an older script than the one used in the Broadway production. That prompted a #BoycottRudinPlays hashtag on Twitter with comments such as “This is just greed.” Rudin eventually backtracked, and allowed the theaters to stage the play using his production’s script.

The episode shows how heavy-handed copyright enforcement tactics can backfire in the age of social media, intellectual ...