Kobo recently filed in opposition to the agency pricing publisher settlements in Canada, objecting to the rapid 40-day timeframe in which they need to renegotiate major publisher contracts, but also arguing that the newly-imposed terms will make them “suffer significant unrecoverable losses” if “Kobo accepts the amendments and shifts its operations to an Agency Lite model.” They write that “a ban on Agency, even in the short term, will have a lasting and irreversible negative impact on the market for E-books in Canada.” More broadly, Kobo argues the arrival of agency in Canada was different than in the US and not the result of […]
DOJ
Apple Makes Their Case to the Appeals Court
On Tuesday Apple filed with the Second Circuit Court of Appeals their arguments to overturn Judge Denise Cote’s ruling finding the company guilty of violating the Sherman Act when they entered the ebook market with their agency contracts. The company’s attorneys write: “The district court’s ruling that Apple, in the very act of launching the iPad, inventing the iBooks Store, and entering the e-books market, violated the Sherman Act is a radical departure from modern antitrust law and policy. If allowed to stand, the ruling will stifle innovation, chill competition, and harm consumers. This Court should overturn it. Apple’s entry as an […]
Apple Asks For Next eBook Trial(s) to be Moved Back to California, Texas
Apple has not been doing well in New York’s Southern District under Judge Denise Cote, so the company is trying a last-minute effort to get the damages trial moved to a different venue. Or rather, split into two venues. They want the judicial panel for multidistrict litigation to return the consumer class action suits to the Northern District of California — where many of the suits were originally filed, and where Apple is located — and they ask for the states’ suit to be returned to the Western District of Texas, where it was first filed by the Texas Attorney […]
People, Etc.
At William Morrow, Kate Nintzel has been promoted to executive editor. At Candlewick, Mary Lee Donovan has been promoted to editorial director. At becker&mayer!, Dana Youlin has been promoted to editorial manager, Delia Greve has been promoted to senior editor, and Nicole Burns Ascue is now associate editor. In the UK, Anna Valentine will re-join Orion in May as publishing director, non-fiction, reporting to Amanda Harris, newly promoted to deputy publisher. Valentine was most recently publishing director at HarperCollins UK. Mavis Gallant, 91, one of Canada’s most distinguished short story writers and literary figures, died Tuesday morning in Paris, where […]
Appeals Court and Government Agree that Apple Monitor’s Role Is Limited
Apple appears to have gotten most of what they wanted from the extended court skirmish over the scope and role of court-appointed monitor Michael Bromwich. Yes, their request for a complete stay of the monitor pending appeal of Judge Cote’s verdict was denied by the three-judge Court of Appeals panel, but the ruling did explicitly and significantly limit what the monitor can do. The Court of Appeals writes that during oral arguments even the government “explicitly stated” the order for the monitor’s duties “should be interpreted narrowly.” So in their brief ruling, the Court of Appeals reaffirms that the monitor […]
Canada Settles eBook Pricing Investigation with Four Publishers
The one holdout in resolving governmental concerns over the establishment of agency pricing for ebooks, Canada announced that their Competition Bureau has signed consent agreements with Harper, Hachette, Macmillan and Simon & Schuster. The Bureau said, “This agreement should benefit Canadian consumers by lowering the price of ebooks in Canada. Businesses operating in the digital economy must realize that anti-competitive activity will not be tolerated, whether it occurs in the physical world or the digital one.” The settlement resolves allegations of violation of Canada’s Competition Act. The four publishers have “agreed to remove or amend clauses in their distribution agreements […]