JD Salinger, author of the acclaimed American novel Catcher In The Rye, has gone to court to try to block the publication of an unauthorised sequel written by a fan calling himself John David California.

The reclusive 90-year-old writer claims that 60 Years Later: Coming Through The Rye infringes his copyright, and is suing for damages from its author and publishers.

The new book is dedicated to Salinger and features Mr C, a character apparently based on Holden Caulfield, the rebellious teenage hero of Salinger's classic 1951 novel. He is portrayed as a 76-year-old escapee from an old people's home.

In a touch that could be construed as either admiring or cheeky, the book also includes Salinger himself as a character, and depicts him agonising over whether to continue Caulfield's story.

Salinger has not published an original work since 1965, has not given an interview since 1980 and has repeatedly resorted to law in his determination to protect his privacy.

His lawyers filed a lawsuit in the federal court in Manhattan yesterday, claiming that the book is a copycat. Its unknown author is listed as John Doe, and Nicotext, its Swedish publisher, Windupbird Publishing, based in London, and SCB Distributors, based in California, are cited as the co-defendants.

The lawsuit says that only Salinger has the right to use the character Holden Caulfield and to create a sequel, and that he has "decidedly chosen not to exercise that right".

It lists numerous similarities in story and language, and alleges: “The Sequel is not a parody and it does not comment upon or criticise the original. It is a ripoff pure and simple.”

In 2003, Salinger stopped the BBC from staging a television production of Catcher. His court papers state that he has turned down requests from Steven Spielberg and Harvey Weinstein to acquire film rights.

The lawsuit presents JD California as a mysterious, unsavoury character. “His precise whereabouts are unknown, despite due investigation,” the court papers allege.

Aaron Silverman, the director of SCB Distributors, said that California lives in Sweden and provided a phone number with a Swedish country code.

A man identifying himself as California who answered the phone told the Associated Press news agency that that he lived near Goteborg.

He called the legal action “a little bit insane" and said that while Salinger had control over the names of his characters, he did not over his style or perspective.

“To me, this is a story about an old man. It’s a love story, a story about an author and his character,” said the man, adding that John David California was his pen name.

He declined to give his real name and said that he did not intend “John David" as an homage to Salinger, whose full name is Jerome David Salinger.

“I did not mean to cause him any trouble,” California added.

Reclusive and litigious, in 1982 Salinger sued a man who allegedly tried to sell a fictitious interview with the author to a national magazine. The supposed interviewer agreed to desist and Salinger dropped the suit.

Five years later, another of the author's legal actions resulted in an important decision by the US Supreme Court, when it refused to allow publication of an unauthorised biography, by Ian Hamilton, that quoted from the author’s unpublished letters.

Salinger had copyrighted the letters when he learned about Hamilton’s book, which came out in a revised edition the following year.

Salinger did not appear in court in those cases and is not expected to for this lawsuit.

Loosely plotted but powerfully evocative of the pains and fears of young adulthood, Catcher In The Rye is a perennial favourite of English teachers and disaffected teenagers alike. It follows Holden Caulfield's state of mind during his lonely, drunken adventures in New York in the days after he is expelled from Pencey Prep school in Pennsylvania.

The novel has sold more than 65 million copies - twice as many as To Kill A Mockingbird, and nearly as many as The Da Vinci Code - and continues to sell around 250,000 copies a year.

Explore Books

• Book Extracts

• Book Reviews

• Books Group

• Audio Books

Times Recommends

• Superfreakonomics by Steven D Levitt and Stephen J Dubner
• The Times picks the 50 best paperbacks of 2009
• Vincent van Gogh’s letters show the soul of the artist