The Authors Guild’s petition to have the Supreme Court hear their appeal of the copyright infringement case first filed against Google’s scanning of library books in 2005 will be reviewed at the court’s conference on April 1. If you have any need to reacquaint yourself with the issues, the docket entry for the petition for cert. filed on December 31, 2015 is here — and the Court of Appeals unanimous verdict upholding (former) District Court Judge Denny Chin’s original and unequivocal ruling that Google’s scanning qualified as “fair use” is here.
Archives for March 2016
People: Beatty Takes NBCC Fiction Award, and More
On Thursday night, the National Book Critics Circle presented their 2015 book awards to: Fiction The Sellout, by Paul Beatty (FSG) General Nonfiction Dreamland, by Sam Quinones (Bloomsbury) Autobiography Negroland, by Margo Jefferson (Pantheon) Biography Romantic Outlaws, by Charlotte Gordon (Random House) Criticism The Argonauts, by Maggie Nelson (Graywolf) Poetry Catalog of Unabashed Gratitude, by Ross Gay (Univ. of Pittsburgh Press) David Solomons won Waterstones’ Children’s Book Prize for My Brother Is A Superhero. The Bookseller’s Diagram Prize for Oddest Title of the Year went to Alan Stafford’s Too Naked for the Nazis. In People news, Christopher North will take over […]
Mockingbird Mass Market Reversion Was Set In Motion In 2011
Despite last week’s suggestion by the New Republic that the termination of Hachette Book Group’s mass market license for To Kill a Mockingbird was a confusing “first action” of Harper Lee’s estate following her death, the process was set in motion 5 years ago and has been hidden in plain sight at least since 2013. Per the copyright law provision that allows the reversion of rights upon request for pre-1978 works after 56 years from the original issuing of the copyright, in April 2011 Lee filed a notice of termination with Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins and San Val, which publishes a school & library edition […]
People, Etc.
At Penguin Random House’s consumer marketing development group, Mina Park has been promoted to director, consumer insights. In addition, senior director, digital development Katherine McCahill joins the group, where she will be responsible for overseeing the Penguin Random House apps portfolio. Sally Riley will step down as director of translation rights at Aitken Alexander at the end of April, though she will continue on a part time basis until a successor is in place “in order to ensure a smooth handover,” according to the agency announcement. Michelle Cashman has joined Grand Central’s Forever imprint as publicist. Previously she was associate […]
Quarto’s Sales Rise On Acquisition, As Chadwick Will Exit Board
Quarto reported sales of $182 million for 2015, up $11 million over the previous year, with operating profit of $16 million just above flat. Sales were lifted by the acquisition of Ivy Press early in 2015, which added $8 million in sales. (Quarto paid $1.9 million for Ivy Press in 2015, along with the assumption of $300,000 in debt.) The core publishing groups in the US and UK, along with the co-editions unit, had sales of $145 million, up $17 million for the year, while sales declined almost $8 million at the Books & Gifts Direct business. Looking ahead, the […]
Awards: Indies Choice Nominees, Bancroft Winners
The National Book Critics Circle will name the winners of their annual book awards tonight in a ceremony at the New School in NYC. In the meantime, the ABA announced the nominees for their annual book awards, with the winners to be named on April 13: Adult Fiction City on Fire, by Garth Risk Hallberg (Knopf) Fates and Furies, by Lauren Groff (Riverhead) Get in Trouble, by Kelly Link (Random House) A Little Life, by Hanya Yanagihara (Doubleday) The Sympathizer, by Viet Thanh Nguyen (Grove) Welcome to Braggsville, by T. Geronimo Johnson (William Morrow) Adult Nonfiction Between the World and […]