A long standing dispute regarding the use of excerpts of James Joyce’s works has settled, giving limited use rights to a professor who sought to use the works. According to the RTE Entertainment article (link below), Carol Shloss, an Acting Professor of English at Stanford University, first sought to quote excerpts from “Finnegans Wake” and other writings of Joyce 16 years ago, and the Joyce estate subsequently refused her requests. Prof. Shloss prepared a thesis to defend her position that Lucia Joyce, James Joyce’s daughter who suffered from schizophrenia and later died in a mental institution, was the “creative muse” behind “Finnegans Wake.” After years of not coming to an agreement, and after attempts by Joyce’s estate to prohibit Prof. Shloss from using these materials, Prof. Shloss filed two actions for declaratory and injunctive relief (in June, 2006 and January, 2007) under 17 U.S.C. § 101 and 28 U.S.C. § 2201. As a result of the settlement of the dispute, and according to the RTE article linked below, Prof. Shloss obtained permission to create a revised appendix to her book , which was initially published without certain documentary evidence "including quotations from letters exchanged between [James] Joyce and his daughter and quotations from [James] Joyce's notebooks describing his observation about Lucia.” Links to the actual Settlement Agreement and the Stanford Law School Center for Internet and Society Blog referencing this dispute are also provided below.

RTE Entertainment Article: LINK
Prof. Carol Shloss’s Stanford Webpage: LINK
Stanford Law School Center for Internet and Society Blog Article: LINK
Copy of Settlement Agreement: LINK
Stanford Law School Press Release: LINK
Wikipedia Entry for “James Joyce”: LINK
17 U.S.C. § 101: LINK
28 U.S.C. § 2201: LINK