Penguin Random House filed their initial answer on Monday to the Department of Justice’s complaint seeking to block the publisher’s plan to acquire Simon & Schuster. The reply challenges the core of the DOJ’s case, which asserts that the acquisition is “likely to substantially lessen competition” for “the acquisition of US publishing rights to books from authors,” focusing in particular on what the government describes as the market for “anticipated top-selling books,” which “would be highly concentrated.” But is that an acceptable market definition? PRH argues that, “DOJ invents a market for rights to ‘anticipated top-selling books’ that excludes the […]
DOJ
S&S “Committed” to Fight DOJ and “Will Carry On”
In a memo to employees on Tuesday, Simon & Schuster president and ceo Jonathan Karp echoed Penguin Random House’s statement that they will fight the Department of Justice’s lawsuit to block the merger of the two houses. “Penguin Random House is determined to fight vigorously to bring this transaction to fruition and we will be doing all we can to help in those efforts,” he wrote. Additionally, “We are committed to working together with PRH to fight this lawsuit.” (The DOJ suit names ViacomCBS as a defendant, alongside Bertelsmann and PRH.) Karp writes, “Notably, DOJ has not alleged that the […]
Authors Guild and Others Urge DOJ to Reject S&S Merge with PRH
The Authors Guild, the Open Markets Institute, and a number of writers associations have co-signed a letter urging the Department of Justice to reject the plan to merge Simon & Schuster into Penguin Random House. “The deal would bring well more than half of key U.S. book markets under the control of a single corporation, which poses a variety of potential threats to freedom of speech and democracy in the United States. The takeover falls clearly within the standard of illegality set by the Clayton Act and should be summarily rejected,” argues the letter, later offering “five arguments that easily […]
Bolton Permitted Discovery to Show Government Acted Unfairly
Former national security John Bolton can go forward with discovery to fight the government lawsuit claiming he violated nondisclosure agreements by publishing The Room Where It Happened. US District Judge Royce C. Lamberth denied the government’s motion for summary judgment, arguing that Bolton should be allowed to gather testimony and documents to prove his claim that the government acted in bad faith. “Because Bolton argues that the government acted inequitably, the Court must be satisfied that the government has clean hands before it can impose a constructive trust. For Bolton to support that argument, he must be allowed limited discovery,” […]
Hagens Berman Files Class Action Lawsuit Against Amazon Over eBook Monopoly
Following news of a longstanding investigation of Amazon’s control over the ebook market by the Connecticut Attorney General, class action law firm Hagens Berman sued Amazon in the US District Court of New York’s Southern District. They allege antitrust violations of the Sherman Act. The filing is both fascinating and bizarre, a kind of deja vu all over again that also sees the law firm now complaining about what they themselves helped wrought. Hagens Berman was the first mover in the earlier lawsuits against book publishers and Apple over the introduction of the agency model for pricing ebooks, filing the […]
Judge Rules Government’s Case Against Bolton Will Go Forward
John Bolton’s motion to dismiss the DOJ lawsuit seeking proceeds of his book The Room Where It Happened failed Thursday, with US District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth finding that the government’s position that Bolton breached prepublication review was sufficiently supported by facts. At stake are his $2 million advance and royalties from the bestselling book, which Bolton will have to forfeit to the government if he loses. Next up, Judge Lamberth has said he would rule “expeditiously” on both the government’s motion for summary judgment and Bolton’s motion to delay it. While a summary judgment has a high standard […]