With no opposition from the government, Apple has at least won a short “administrative stay” from the Appeals Court of Judge Cote’s imposition of an antitrust compliance monitor, while her broader verdict and September 2013 injunction in the ebook pricing case is under appeal. That delay remains in place until a three-judge Appeals Court panel can hear Apple’s formal motion for a stay blocking monitor Michael Bromwich and objecting to his conduct. That motion “shall be heard as soon as possible.” The government has until Friday to file their formal opposition to granting a permanent stay.
Legal
As Expected, Judge Cote Denies Apple’s Motion to Stay
On Thursday morning Judge Cote issued an order officially denying Apple’s motion to stay her ruling in last summer’s ebook pricing trial, also keeping the disputed court-appointed monitor Michael Bromwich on the job. The 64-page order goes through all of Judge Cote’s reasons for denying the stay and chronicles the escalating conflict between Bromwich and Apple, but it essentially boils down to this: First, “many of the arguments which Apple once made (and is no longer pursuing) have been waived or are moot.” Second, Judge Cote said Apple “has access to a dispute resolution mechanism which has and will be […]
Class Action Firms File Shareholder Suit Against Barnes & Noble
After Barnes & Noble acknowledged two SEC investigations into its accounting practices on December 5, a wave of class-action law firms announced “investigations” of their own and asked shareholders to contact them. On Monday two of those firms — Pomerantz and Ryan and Maniskas — both announced the filing of a class action suit against the company, filed in Federal Court in New York’s Southern District. They seek damages from the company and “certain” officers and directors, alleging violations of the securities laws that include “false and/or misleading statements” and a failure “to disclose material adverse facts about the company’s business, […]
Briefs: Authors Guild To Appeal Google Book Search Ruling; Rowling Leak Lawyer Fined; and More
On December 23 the Authors Guild and the named author plaintiffs filed notice with New York federal court that it intends to appeal Judge Denny Chin’s November 14 dismissal of the case on fair use grounds. The AG was told on December 10 that it had two weeks to file an appeal, and did so right on schedule. Meanwhile, Apple and the Department of Justice continue to square off over the effectiveness of independent monitor Michael Bromwich, with the DOJ filing a 30-page rebuttal to Apple’s request for a stay after it accused Bromwich of charging too much, taking up […]
Court Affirms Pre-1923 Sherlock Holmes Characters Are in Public Domain, Free for Use
Just before Christmas the matter of Sherlockian Leslie Klinger’s lawsuit against the Conan Doyle Estate to establish whether the character Sherlock Holmes was in the public domain, and that derivative works did not require licensing fees, was resolved, with Judge Ruben Castillo of Illinois federal court granting Klinger’s summary judgment motion for the most part. In his 22-page opinion, Castillo ruled that Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson, and any other character first introduced in the 46 Conan Doyle stories and four novels published before 1923 are in the public domain and free for use — but that story elements from 10 […]
Briefs: A Harry Potter Play, Hachette UK’s New Office, and a Microsoft Employee Who Leaked Nook Deal
JK Rowling will co-produce a Harry Potter play intended to debut on London’s West End in 2015, and will collaborate with a playwright on the show, which will focus on “the previously untold story of Harry Potter’s early years as an orphan and outcast.” Already a year in “gestation,” it will be produced by veterans Sonia Friedman and Colin Callender. Rowling said their pitch “was the only one that really made sense to me, and which had the sensitivity, intensity and intimacy I thought appropriate for bringing Harry’s story to the stage.” As announced in September, Rowling is also working on […]