A federal judge in New York has temporarily blocked publication of a book called 60 Years Later, saying it has substantial similarities to J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye.

U.S. District Judge Deborah Batts said she was imposing the ban until she could rule on legal questions in the case. Salinger is attempting to stop publication of the book.

The book by Swedish author Fredrik Colting, writing under the name John David California, continues the story of Holden Caulfield, the beloved hero of Salinger's perennial bestseller.

60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye features a character very much like Caulfield who is now 76.

The character, identified as "Mr. C," escapes from a retirement home and has experiences similar to those Caulfield went through after being thrown out of boarding school.

Edward Henry Rosenthal, a lawyer for Colting, argued that 60 Years Later should be published under the rules that allow commentary, criticism or parody of an existing work.

The judge wasn't buying that, saying she was having trouble seeing any criticism of Salinger's work or of Caulfield in the new book.

Rosenthal said that blocking publication of the book, scheduled to come out this summer in Great Britain and in the United States soon after, would raise First Amendment issues.

Marcia Beth Paul, a lawyer for Salinger, accused both the author and publishers of 60 Years Later of "pure commercialism."

They are trying to capitalize on the great success of the novel, first published in 1951, which annually sells hundreds of thousands of copies, she said.

Salinger, who has not published anything under his own name since the 1960s, lives a reclusive life in rural New Hampshire.

With files from the Associated Press