JOHN STEINBECK’S son and only granddaughter have prevailed in a family feud over control of the author’s classic works, Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath.

A judge in New York has ruled in favour of the Nobel laureate’s blood relatives in a dispute with the family of his last wife, Elaine.

The ruling covers ten early works, including the two classics which continue to sell tens of thousands of copies a year.

Penguin, the publisher, risks losing the rights to the books unless the ruling is overturned. Maureen Donnelly, its spokeswoman, called the judge’s decision “but the first round in what will be a long and complicated process” and suggested that it would appeal.

Steinbeck, who won acclaim for stories of ordinary people in the Great Depression, died in 1968, six years after winning the Nobel Prize for Literature.

The battle pits the offspring of the writer’s second marriage to Gwyndolyn Conger against the estate of his third and final wife, Elaine, who died in 2003.

The claim was brought by Steinbeck’s son Thom, a novelist himself, and Blake Smyle, the daughter of Thom’s brother John IV, who died in 1991.

The son and granddaughter took advantage of a right for heirs to “recapture” copyright granted by Congress in a 1998 law named after the singer and congressman Sonny Bono.

The Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Act extended copyright protection for 20 years to a period of 95 years after the artist’s death. But it also gave the artist’s family the right to reclaim copyright to ensure they received a fair share of the profits from the works. The ruling was one of the first decisions on the question of recapturing copyright. Last year a court ruled that the heirs of A. A. Milne had no right to change the copyright on Winnie-the-Pooh and other characters that generate huge income for Walt Disney Productions.

The Steinbeck case was heard by US District Court Judge Richard Owen. As a judge, he once held that George Harrison had “subconsciously” plagiarised a 1963 melody by John Mack for his 1971 hit My Sweet Lord.

Judge Owen wrote that copyright law reflected that “a number of such young composers, artists and authors . . . such as John Steinbeck writing his first book in 1929, cannot predict the high stature they would attain, and the popular prominence of their works in musical and literary conciousness — not to mention the eventual high financial rewards to them and their families their work can command.”

Under his ruling, Steinbeck’s son and granddaughter will get control of his first novel, Cup of Gold: A Life of Sir Henry Morgan on July 1. But they will not get the copyright to Of Mice and Men until 2012, and The Grapes of Wrath until 2014. “Their primary goal is to preserve and protect John Steinbeck’s legacy,” said Mark S. Lee, their lawyer.

“They want the books to be available to the public in a dignified and respectful way. They may renegotiate a deal with Penguin. But there is a long way to go.”

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