A California Federal court dismissed competing lawsuits by THE GIRLS author Emma Cline filed last November against her ex-boyfriend, Chaz Reetz-Laiolo, and his suit against her and Random House alleging copyright infringement. However, in granting and denying a flurry of motions to dismiss by both sides, Judge William Orrick left it open for amended infringement suits to be revived at a later date. Orrick’s 60-page order, issued June 28, dismissed a number of Chaz Reetz-Laiolo’s claims with prejudice, characterizing the litigation as “grist for its own novel” with allegations of sexual assault, plagiarism, keylogging, and infringement. Judge Orrick dismissed the […]
Supreme Court Changes Internet Tax Landscape, Ruling States Can Collect Sales Tax from Many Online Sellers
By a 5-4 vote the Supreme Court overturned the precedent from Quill Corp. v. North Dakota in 1992 that effectively left internet companies with no physical presence in a state exempt from collecting sales taxes. The Court took the case, South Dakota v. Wayfair, “to reconsider the scope and validity of the physical presence rule mandated by those cases.” Today’s ruling found “the physical presence rule of Quill is unsound and incorrect.” The court notes, with Justice Anthony Kennedy writing the majority opinion, “The physical presence rule has long been criticized as giving out-of-state sellers an advantage. Each year, it […]
Barnes & Noble Ends the Year On Further Declines
Barnes & Noble reported fourth quarter and full-year results Thursday morning, and once more the trendline for the company is decidedly downward. Sales for the quarter were $786 million, a decline of 4.3 percent from the prior year, while comparable store sales dropped 4.1 percent. Consolidated EBITDA was $6.7 million in the fourth quarter, as compared to $5.6 million a year ago. The company incurred a fourth quarter net loss of $21.1 million, or $0.29 per share, compared to a loss of $13.4 million, or $0.19 per share, in the prior year, factoring in a $7.7 million charge “associated with […]
Briefs: Carla Hayden to Interview Michelle Obama at ALA; Award Winners; and Apple Books Changes
Appearances When Michelle Obama addresses the opening general session of the 2018 ALA Annual Conference on June 22, she will be joined on stage by Librarian of Congress Dr. Carla Hayden, who “will moderate a conversation.” Awards The Jewish Book Council’s $100,000 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature has gone to Ilana Kurshan’s memoir If All the Seas Were Ink. The Lambda Literary Award announced winners in 23 categories at an awards ceremony Monday night. Roxane Gay and Edmund White were awarded Lambda’s Trustee and Visionary Awards, respectively. Apple Updates As Bloomberg reported back in January, Apple’s forthcoming iOS 12 […]
Accountant Charged With Embezzling $3.4 Million From Donadio & Olson
A recently unsealed federal criminal complaint revealed that longtime Donadio & Olson accountant Darin Webb was charged earlier this month with embezzling $3.4 million from the literary agency between January 2011 and March 2018. According to the 5-page complaint, Webb, who was employed by Donadio & Olson as their bookkeeper since 2001, “used his position as the Agency’s bookkeeper to transfer more than $3.4 million of funds, belonging to the Agency and the Agency’s clients, from the Agency’s bank accounts to bank accounts that [he] controlled. In order to evade detection of his criminal conduct and carry out his scheme, […]
Buzz Books Fall/Winter Preview: Nonfiction
Our Buzz Books 2018 Fall/Winter sampler is full of excerpts from great forthcoming nonfiction by novelist and law professor Stephen Carter, Stephanie Land’s memoir Maid, and more. Also watch out for Michelle Obama’s memoir, essays by Glory Edim and Wesley Yang, plus books by Bernie Sanders, Rebecca Traister, Susan Orleans, and others. Did you download your copy yet? Trade editions — with publicity and marketing info, and click-throughs for full galleys, are available through your platform of choice from NetGalley or Edelweiss. For the consumer edition, the “download” button here links to all major ebookstore platforms. With Book Expo starting next week, we’re presenting extracts from that seasonal […]