On Friday, Bob Kohn filed with the US District Court indicating his intention to appear in opposition to final entry of the Federal ebook pricing settlements with Macmillan and Penguin. The new wrinkle to avoid being dismissed as not having standing in the matter is that Kohn objects as one of the many eligible consumers affected by the settlement. His primary intention is to reassert the simple but sensational argument that Judge Cote ignored the most important element of the entire ebook pricing saga: “Amazon’s below marginal cost pricing” of ebooks prior to the launch of the agency model. That […]
Legal
People
At Grand Central’s Forever and Forever Yours romance imprints, Amy Pierpont has been promoted to editor-in-chief, while Sourcebooks editorial manager Leah Hultenschmidt has joined as editorial director. Lauren Plude moves up to associate editor, reporting to Hultenschmidt, while Megha Parekh has been promoted to assistant editor. At Crown, Danielle Crabtree has been promoted to marketing associate. Separately, Gianna Sandri has joined Crown Archetype as marketing associate. Previously she was a marketing assistant at Pearson Education. In addition, Maren Childs has joined the group ad/promo department as associate web developer. Previously she was at Workman. Brenda Chin will join Belle Books […]
After Appeals Court Loss, Risen Faces Supreme Court or Possible Jail Time While Protecting Sources
Author of the 2006 book STATE OF WAR: The Secret History of the CIA and the Bush Administration and NYT reporter James Risen faces an appeal to the Supreme Court or the prospect of going to jail in his continuing efforts to protect his sources. Prosecutors still want Risen to testify in what seems now like a minor case — against CIA officer Jeffrey Sterling, accused of leaking information about a Clinton-era effort to disrupt Iran’s nuclear research. On Tuesday, the full Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit declined to hear Risen’s appeal — by a 13-to-1 vote — […]
As Expected, Apple Will Appeal eBook Verdict and Injunction — and So Will Simon & Schuster and Macmillan
Last Thursday Apple filed the long-expected notice of appeal with the court, intending to challenge the verdict against them in the ebook pricing trial as well as the order entering permanent injunction. But that brief notice is all that they have filed for now. Additionally, however, Simon & Schuster has filed their own notice of appeal, as has Macmillan, specifically limited to the injunction. Presumably they both want to continue the challenge raised by publishers earlier that the penalties the court wants to impose on Apple unfairly imposes a kind of double jeopardy on the settling publishers, going above and […]
Legal: Cussler Sues Producer Over Rights Claim; Supreme Court Will Hear Raging Bull Author Suit
Clive Cussler spent years engaging in a costly, complicated lawsuit with Philip Anschutz over script approval on the film flop Sahara, based on one of Cussler’s Dirk Pitt novels, which ended in a stalemate. (Both sides claimed victory but neither prevailed in winning attorney fees.) Now, Deadline reports, Cussler has filed a fresh complaint in Los Angeles Superior Court claiming that a man named John Fassett, who “represents himself as a motion picture and film producer,” has been representing that he controls the rights to Cussler’s Oregon Files series of adventure novels. The suit asserts that Fassett was “using names […]
Harper Lee Copyright Lawsuit Officially Dismissed
As promised last week by Samuel Pinkus’s defense lawyer, Harper Lee’s copyright lawsuit against him was officially dismissed Wednesday afternoon. (The dismissal included the associated companies Veritas Media, Keystone Literary, and Philologus Procurator.) Each side will bear the cost of their own attorney fees. Gloria Phares, representing Harper Lee, had not yet returned our request for comment. Pinkus’s attorney Vincent Carissimi had said last week that both sides “reached a mutually satisfactory resolution.”