The EU Parliament passed the Copyright Directive, containing two controversial provisions intended to ensure publishers and content creators get paid when their content is shared on internet platforms such as Facebook, Google, and YouTube. While the vote is significant, particularly considering that Parliament rejected a different version in July — it’s far from final. As…
Legal
What Publishers’ “Morality Clauses” Actually Say, and How Agents Are Reacting
The growing awareness and apparent use of morality clauses in major publisher contracts has been a hot button issue this year — mistakenly treated as if this was a brand new practice. Most of that reporting and discussion has taken place in a partial void, absent an airing of what the actual contractual clauses say….
Legal: On Demand Publisher Challenges Federal Deposit Demand
The Institute for Justice is representing small, on-demand publisher Valancourt Books in a federal lawsuit challenging the US Copyright Office’s deposit demand, which requires providing two free copies of anything copyrightable. Valancourt, which has a list of about 400 reprints of out-of-print titles — “all of which contain at least some new material, like scholarly…
Barnes & Noble: Lots of Questions
Former Barnes & Noble ceo Demos Parneros’s fiery lawsuit against the company for defamation and breach of contract raises lots of currently unanswerable questions. We are readers so here, at least, are some documents for you to scrutinize: – First is the full 19-page complaint from Parneros, which we posted yesterday – There is Parneros’s…
Parneros Sues Barnes & Noble for Breach and Defamation, Says Riggio Turned On Him After Sale to Another Book Retailer Fell Through; Company Calls Suit Extortion
Former Barnes & Noble ceo Demos Parneros filed suit against the bookseller in a New York Federal Court on Tuesday, alleging breach of contract and defamation in connection with his dismissal without severance in early July. Parneros seeks the “severance that is due him, which is over $4 million in cash, plus equity,” along with…
People, Etc.
Priyanka Krishnan, formerly at Harper Voyager, has joined Orbit as editor. Bradley Englert has been promoted to editor. At Penguin Random House Canada, Beth Lockley is promoted to the new position of vp, marketing and communications, overseeing a combined marketing and publicity team and reporting to chief operating officer Robert Wheaton. Longtime executive Tracey Turriff,…