Chooseco, the owners of the Choose Your Own Adventure series, filed suit in a Vermont Federal court on Friday against Netflix, alleging trademark infringement, trademark dilution and unfair competition over the interactive film Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, released by the streaming service on December 28, 2018. The suit seeks a “conservative initial estimate” of at least $25 million in damages. Citing the early minutes of Netflix movie, in which the the main character refers to the fictional book Bandersnatch as a “Choose Your Own Adventure” book, in which “you decide what your character does,” Chooseco charges that the infringement of their trademark […]
Archives for January 2019
A Last Chance to Save
A lot of people like to sign up for PublishersMarketplace.com membership early in the year, so as an experiment we left our “anniversary” promotion code valid for longer than usual — but the end is coming. You have until January 15 to use the code fifteen when enrolling, to get your first full month of PM membership for $15 (a $10 savings from the standard price).
Germany’s Book Trade Trended Slightly Positive in 2018 — Thanks to Price Increases
In 2018, Germans bought fewer books, but paid more for them, according to stats in the January issue of the German Publishers & Booksellers Association’s publication. “The [sales] balance for the year 2018 is … a wafer-thin increase of 0.1 percent” according to the report, but the number of copies sold fell by 1.4 percent. Buyers paid an average of 13.36 euros per book, 1.4 percent more than in 2017. The publication calls Christmas sales “solid,” yet the numbers are similarly mixed. Yes, December sales revenues were 0.5 percent higher than for December 2017, one of only seven months in […]
People, Etc.
Timothy Paulson will join Harper Christian as vp and publisher of Nelson Books, starting February 4. He was most recently with Kalmbach Media. At Harper Children’s, Olivia Russo has been promoted to director, publicity and Haley George to associate publicist. Kristopher Kam joins as publicist. He was most recently at St. Martin’s. Roxanne Jones has been promoted to publicist at Berkley. At Little Brown UK, Sphere Fiction publisher and executive director of the rights and audio teams Cath Burke has been promoted to deputy managing director of Little Brown Book Group, reporting to Charlie King. Lucy Malagoni has been promoted to Sphere Fiction publisher. Longtime publishing executive […]
German Booksellers Thalia and Mayersche Announce Intended Merger
In a surprise move, two German bookstores — Thalia, the market leader, and Mayersche, a large regional chain — announced plans to merge, a deal that will first need to be approved by Germany’s Federal Cartel Office. While terms of the deal remain undisclosed, the Falter family, which owns Mayersche, will become partners in the consortium that owns Thalia, which includes the Herder and Kreke families, Leif Göritz, and Thalia ceo Michael Busch. Mayersche’s ceo, Helmut Falter, will join the consortium as a managing partner and member of the board, tasked with the integration of the two companies and future corporate […]
Barnes & Noble Has Small Holiday Gain, But It Comes At a Cost
Barnes & Noble reported sales for holidays, with same-store sales gaining a little bit over the nine weeks ending December 29, up 1.3 percent. “Although we got off to a slow start, sales picked up momentum as we moved deeper into the season,” chairman Len Riggio says in the announcement, with same-store sales in the smaller window between Black Friday and New Year’s Day rising 4 percent. (The latter is not the traditional measure and does not deserve to feature in anyone’s headline; historically the chain has always reported the full nine-week holiday sales period.) The small improvement still marks […]