US District Judge Morrison England in Sacramento will hold a hearing today on the first of at least two efforts by Lance Armstrong and publishers Penguin and Random House to dismiss a would-be class action lawsuit on behalf of California consumers seeking compensation for the lies Armstrong told in various books. Bloomberg Businessweek comments, “The filing in California reflects that state’s unusually expansive consumer-protection statutes.” But “those laws, though, are meant to shield buyers of truly dangerous and defective products. The Armstrong autobiography suit, in contrast, is the sort of laughable shakedown that makes the American plaintiffs’ bar an object […]
Archives for August 2013
Publishers Formally Object to DOJ’s Proposal to Block Agency for 5 Years
Attorneys for all of the settling publishers (Harper, Hachette, Simon & Schuster, Penguin Random House and Macmillan) jointly filed objections to the DOJ’s proposed injunction against Apple on Wednesday: “Under the guise of punishing Apple, they effectively punish the settling defendants by prohibiting agreements with Apple using an agency model.” (For the record, they filed together “solely for the convenience of the Court and in the interests of judicial economy.”) The fundamental arguments — and even some of the quotes cited — will be familiar to readers who remember our Monday post, About Last Week. The filing notes that Justice’s […]
Quarto Nudges Forward
Quarto Group reported results for the first half of 2013, with sales down slightly to $72.2 million (declining $1 million) and operating profit up slightly at $4 million (rising $100,000). CEO Marcus Leaver said in the release, “These results are encouraging overall but much remains to do. They show a portfolio in transition; where we have taken action, the results have begun to show, and more action is to come. Importantly we are clearly bringing down our debt levels and shall continue to do so.” Sales at their US division Quayside led the group, rising almost $2 million at $29 million. […]
Docket Watch
We’ve already reported that Judge Denise Cote will hold a conference on Friday afternoon to discuss the DOJ and Apple’s extravagantly punitive and lenient (respectively) proposals for how she should enforce her guilty verdict against Apple. But first, by 10:00 Thursday morning, Judge Cote wants to hear further from Apple in writing — specifically on one of their four planned avenues of appeal. She has directed Apple to spell out “the evidence it believes was ‘improperly admitted, excluded or disregarded” during the trial. The filing containing Apple’s other arguments in the expected request to stay all proceedings pending an appeal […]
People, Etc.
Abrams announced a number of promotions in its marketing and publicity departments. Veronica Wasserman has been promoted to brand director, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, a new position. In the adult trade department, Jennifer Brunn has been promoted to senior director of publicity and Claire Bamundo moves up to director, publicity and brand strategy. In addition, Marisa Dobson has been promoted to senior publicist and Merle Brown adds the responsibilities of manager, corporate events to her role as executive assistant to the ceo. Former Abrams executive director of publicity Katrina Weidknecht recently left the company after six years to move […]
People: Expanding S&S Canada, and More
Now that the Canadian government has officially signed off on Simon & Schuster Canada’s expansion of its editorial and publishing activities, the company announced that president Kevin Hanson is taking the additional job of publisher, continuing to report to Michael Selleck. S&S ceo Carolyn Reidy said in a statement that Hanson “is perfectly suited to lead Simon & Schuster Canada in this exciting endeavor, which will increase our ability to publish authors from the entire English-speaking world on a global scale.” In addition, director of sales operations Alison Clarke has been promoted to associate publisher, while Phyllis Bruce will oversee […]