With trademark candor, Macmillan ceo John Sargent’s year-end letter to authors, illustrators and agents presents more than the usual amount of updates. Counteracting any year-end punditry, Sargent says they “have completed the court-ordered mediation process with the DOJ without any progress toward settlement” and will proceed to trial. He held his letter after Penguin’s settlement was filed yesterday, but :after some long thought, I’m sending you the letter I wrote unchanged. That is because our position has not changed.” Sargent forsees another suit coming, saying that “now even our friends in Canada are taking a look,” and clarifies that their […]
DOJ
Penguin Settles with the DOJ, Removing A Merger Hurdle and Answering A Merger Question
On Wednesday afternoon, the Department of Justice announced it had reached a settlement with Penguin, “one of the largest book publishers in the United States,” of the ebook pricing lawsuit that Penguin had previously vowed to litigate in court. (Indeed, in April, Penguin Group ceo John Makinson had defiantly underscored that “alone among the publishers party to the investigations that resulted in today’s announcements, we have held no settlement discussions with the DOJ or the states.”) The settlement, which again requires the approval by Judge Denise Cote of New York’s Southern District Court, imposes the same basics terms as the approved settlements between […]
HBG Moves to Agency Lite with Amazon and Others
Hachette Book Group has reached a new overall sales agreement with Amazon. As part of that agreement, HBG now moves to selling ebooks on an “agency lite” basis with the US trade’s leading retailer. Amazon no longer lists HBG ebook prices as having been set by the publisher, but does still list the titles themselves as “sold by Hachette Book Group.” (These are the technical details that confirm HBG is no longer controlling the consumer price, as required under the DOJ settlement, but continues an agency selling relationship as the seller of record.) As was the case when HarperCollins moved […]
Judge Cote Resists Efforts to Postpone June 3 Trial Date
In an order issued late last week Judge Cote reaffirmed the June 3, 2013 trial date for the DOJ’s ebook lawsuit against Apple, Penguin, and Macmillan, after Justice had asked for a three-month extension for “fact and expert discovery” and requested that “other deadlines to be extended accordingly.” Judge Cote asked all parties to submit a new joint scheduling order by noon on Thursday, October 25 that would enable the trial date to stay put, with a telephone conference to follow the following day at 11 AM.
Briefs: FBF Trade Attendance Declines Slightly; Retailers Send Mail On eBook Settlement Credits
The Frankfurt Book Fair said that trade attendance decline 1.6 percent–while total visitors including the German public rose slightly, by 0.6 percent. FBF said in their release that “the fact that the number of visitors declined only marginally during the trade visitors’ days reflects the fact that the industry remains optimistic and is well equipped to face its challenges.” As previously announced, major ebook retailers started notifying qualifying customers by email that they will be entitled to unspecified store credits as part of the settlement of the suit by state attorneys general and the three Settlers. Amazon’s mail landed first, […]
Judge Cote Denies Kohn’s Motion to Intervene–Which He Appeals
In a ten-page opinion issued Tuesday afternoon, Judge Cote denied Bob Kohn’s motion to intervene with respect to the ebook lawsuit settlement, concluding that he has no standing and saying that his public comments and the granting of his amicus motion should suffice. According to Judge Cote, Kohn failed to demonstrate he had standing to intervene because he did “not suggest that his individual rights will be impaired in any way if he is not permitted to intervene.” While Kohn may wish to assist the defense in fighting Justice’s lawsuit, he did not argue “that he — and the ‘millions’ […]