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EU Finalizes Amazon Antitrust Settlements
As previewed earlier in the month, the European Union announced the final “commitments” made by Amazon to avoid further enforcement action, including fines. As indicated earlier, within the EU Amazon will make the Buy Box more competitive, allow third-party merchants to participate in Prime while using outside logistics providers, and block Amazon from using internal data to compete with third-party merchants. Specifically, the EU states: Regarding data use, Amazon will not “use non-public data relating to, or derived from, the independent sellers’ activities on its marketplace, for its retail business. This applies to both Amazon’s automated tools and employees that […]
Barnes & Noble Part of “Big-Box Revival”
The WSJ touts Barnes & Noble’s previously-announced store expansion plans as part of a bigger trend, as “several other big-box retailers are expanding again after years of shutting stores, a sign of the industry’s resilience emerging from the Covid-19 pandemic.” The bookseller has said it has “over 30 stores in development for 2023.” BN CEO James Daunt says, “We’ve now got both the profitability and the confidence to start opening up stores again.” The story concedes that, “Many of the new bookstores are smaller in size and opening in markets where larger locations had closed.” Often much smaller, as the […]
Amazon Antitrust Settlement With EU Coming
Something to keep an eye on in the quiet holidays ahead: Amazon and the European Union are reported to have agreed upon a settlement of two antitrust cases, which “will force the company to make significant changes to its business practices,” the NYT reports. They expect the settlement to be announced formally on December 20. People “with knowledge of the deal” say that it will “require Amazon to give makers of rival products equal access to valuable real estate on its website, said the people, who would speak only anonymously before the official announcement. The company will also be barred […]
Pallante Defends the Broad Protection and Innovation of Exclusive Rights Under Copyright
On Tuesday night, AAP ceo Maria Pallante delivered the Copyright Society’s Donald C. Brace lecture (named for the publisher, and business partner of Alfred Harcourt) at Fordham University Law School. She spoke on “the art and innovation of exclusive rights,” declaring, “To say that divisibility is a shining feature of copyright law would be an understatement…. That exclusive rights are divisible under the law amplifies their constitutional purpose, compounds their potential, and solidifies the underlying architecture of the Copyright Act.” Appropriate to a year in which AAP publishers prevailed against an unconstitutional Maryland law trying to regulate sales of digital […]
Obituary: Linda Chester
Literary agent Linda Chester died at home in La Jolla, CA on December 9. She was founder and president of the Linda Chester Literary Agency, which she established in 1989. The agency writes: “She had the utmost respect and admiration for writers and their ability to move us, persuade us, to rejoice in the human condition, and also to caution us when the culture strays from its highest values.” They also note: “Well known for her ethics, passion, kindness, and generosity, Linda was well loved by her clients and admired for her big-picture vision and singular sense of style.” The agency […]