“My name is Stephen King; I’m a freelance writer.” So began what is likely to be the most entertaining testimony of the A3 trial, even if it seems unlikely to have great bearing on the case. (Though Judge Pan was clearly as charmed as everyone else to have the renowned author on the stand. When he was dismissed, smiling, broadly, she said, “It was a real pleasure to hear your testimony.”) King noted he was testifying voluntarily, because, “I think that consolidation is bad for competition; that’s my understanding of the book business.” As he recalled, “When I started there […]
Antitrust Trial
It’s Actually Day One: Pietsch Testimony and Opening Arguments
The A3 antitrust trial went quickly from the excitement of the long-anticipated event — with cameras set up outside awaiting the non-arrival of Stephen King, due Tuesday, and long security lines for the many visitors — to the slow tedium of an actual trial, establishing a foundation with witnesses and trying to provide a crash course in the basics of book publishing. The good news for both sides — and all sides — is that Judge Florence Pan clearly lives up to her reputation as a rising star heading for the Court of Appeals. Throughout the day, she showed clear […]
A3 Trial: Revised Confidentiality Procedures
As the antitrust trial begins today, the parties jointly filed a proposed revised order for the handling of confidential material, and the anonymizing of certain names. For those who might be affected, the proposal is viewable here.
Slightly Unredacted
The parties in the A3 trial have been revising and resubmitting some of their key documents to more lightly redact data and citations. We already swapped in Penguin Random House’s newer version of their pre-trial brief on Monday, and now that post also includes a posted PDF of the Department of Justice’s revised brief as well (submitted to the court yesterday). Among the details now visible: When bidding for Simon & Schuster, Bertelsmann ceo Thomas Rabe expressed that the company faced “a disadvantage in the auction due to antitrust risks, which are likely to be greater in our case than […]
A3: Judge Allows Testimony on Bidding, Printing
In a pre-trial hearing yesterday, Judge Florence Pan ruled on five points in preparation for next month’s A3 trial, with both sides winning enough of what they wanted to declare victory (details below). Additionally, as the parties slim their final witness lists, literary agents Joy Harris, Chris Parris-Lamb, Kent Wolf and Kate McKean have all been dropped and will not have to testify. Also dropped were Jon Anderson, Bill Thomas and Wendy Wolf. In a sign of the sprawling burden of the case across the industry, the hearing was attended by 21 attorneys representing publishers and agents concerned about their […]
A3: DOJ and PRH State Their Cases In Pre-Trial Filings
On Friday, the Department of Justice and Penguin Random House both filed their formal pre-trial briefs with the court for the upcoming A3 antitrust trial, framing in advance their core arguments and counterpoints. As in their original complaint, the DOJ focuses on their core argument that the acquisition of Simon & Schuster “would further entrench the largest publishing giant in the United States (and the world) and give the merged company control of nearly half of the market to acquire anticipated top-selling books [ATSB] from authors.” They allege that the “merger would likely result in authors of anticipated top-selling books […]