We are accustomed to America’s intellectual property creators warning about inadequate protection for their work in countries such as China, Ukraine and Russia. But on Friday, organizations representing industries that rely on copyright (including the AAP) called out Canada for special attention and a place on the US Trade Representative’s “watch list” among others. The AAP explained in a release that Canada’s Copyright Modernization Act 2012 “expanded its fair dealing exceptions to include an undefined ‘education’ purpose. The education exception lacks any specific parameters, thus conflicting with established international norms regarding exceptions, and has also been subject to excessively broad interpretation, […]
Legal
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 […]
FYI, There’s Nothing New About the Latest Demand for Big Damages from Apple
For a while now, we’ve cautioned readers: a) not to get caught up in the day-to-day legal maneuverings between Apple and the government (the main things that matter are the appeal, and the damages trial, in that order), and b) to be wary of stories from organizations that don’t have a deep understanding and coverage of this complex battle. So today you’ll see headlines about the latest filing from the class action attorneys suggesting that Apple should pay damages of between $720 million and $840 million. But this is nothing new. We guesstimated back in June 2013 — before the […]
Apple Wins At Least A Brief “Administrative Stay” of Monitor, Pending Appeals Hearing
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.
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, […]