Faulkner estate settles lawsuit over newspaper ad

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) -- The estate of William Faulkner has settled a copyright lawsuit against Northrop Grumman Corp. and The Washington Post Co. for using a Faulkner quote in a newspaper ad by the defense contractor.

U.S. District Judge Henry T. Wingate in Jackson dismissed the lawsuit Dec. 12. Terms of the settlement are sealed.

The Faulkner estate sued in 2012 over use of what it said was a quote from a 1956 essay Faulkner wrote in Harper's Magazine. The Independence Day ad in the Post used the phrase: "We must be free; not because we claim freedom, but because we practice it."

The same quote, but with different punctuation, was the conclusion to Faulkner's essay criticizing the South's response to school integration.