Cengage, Macmillan Learning, McGraw Hill, and Elsevier filed a lawsuit against Google on Wednesday in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, alleging that the search engine prioritizes pirated textbooks through “systemic and pervasive advertising” instead of legitimate e-versions. The lawsuit states that the companies have been filing copyright infringement notices with Google since 2021, but that their efforts have been ignored. They allege that the search engine is profiting off the ads for the pirated books, while rejecting ebook ads for “legitimate sellers.” “Google has continued to advertise infringing works while simultaneously restricting ads for authentic educational works—supporting […]
Education
PRH Extends Pandemic “Open License” Initiative Through the School Year; Will Replace with New Initiative
Penguin Random House has extended their pandemic-driven “open license” for online story time and classroom read-aloud videos and live events through the current school year, until June 30, 2023. At the same time, they underscore, this “will be the publisher’s final extension of the program.” They note, “Fortunately, as an ever-increasing majority of libraries, schools, bookstores, and other institutions open for in-person events, this temporary program has met its original goal to help ease some of the effort for educators and librarians and will be concluded.” A new policy will be launched on July 1, “to better serve students, educators […]
Educational Publishers Settle Shopify Piracy Lawsuit
Five educational publishers–Macmillan Learning, Cengage Learning, Elsevier, McGraw Hill, and Pearson Education–have settled a lawsuit accusing e-commerce platform Shopify of allowing textbook piracy, Reuters reports. In a joint filing, both parties requested that the case be dismissed with prejudice so it cannot be filed again, and said that each will “bear their own fees and costs.” Representatives from the publishers and Shopify told Reuters that the case was resolved “amicably” and the settlement terms were not disclosed. The publishers brought the suit against Shopify last year, accusing the company of turning a “blind eye” to users selling pirated textbooks. They […]
Follett to Develop Tools to Monitor Children’s Reading to Comply with “Parents’ Rights Bills”
Education technology company Follett plans to develop new features for school media center software Destiny to help customers comply with so-called “parents’ rights bills” being introduced across the US. An article in Forsyth County News earlier this month reported on changes the Georgia county is making “to increase parental involvement in a student’s book selections and expedite the process by which books that potentially contain sexually explicit material are challenged and removed.” The district contacted Follett “to find a way for parents to have more involvement in what their kids are reading at school.” Proposed solutions include allowing parents to […]
“Passion Over Money”: On Careers With a Publishing Master’s Degree
Last year, the WSJ reported that graduates from top universities don’t earn enough to pay off loans for their master’s degrees in a number of disciplines. According to the article, “At New York University, graduates with a master’s degree in publishing borrowed a median $116,000 and had an annual median income of $42,000 two years after the program, the data on recent borrowers show.” Still, many alumni tell PL that they wouldn’t have a job in publishing at all without their master’s program. Graduates report that, even after internships and interviews, getting a master’s—with the networking opportunities and internal job […]
Follett Book Fairs Sold to Literati
After saying they would exit their unprofitable school book fair business as of last November, Follett School Solutions has now announced the sale of that business to book subscription business Literati. According to the release, “Literati will inherit the Follett Book Fair infrastructure, including book inventory, distribution centers, and key members of the executive, sales and operations team.” They will begin booking school book fairs for spring 2022 in parts of the Midwest, Texas, and Southern California. Schools in the Southeast can book now for the 2022-2023 school year.