A month after holding a hearing on a proposed class action lawsuit against Lance Armstrong for making false statements in his books IT’S NOT ABOUT THE BIKE and EVERY SECOND COUNTS, California Federal court Judge Morrison England threw out most of the suit. Siding with Armstrong and his respective publishers Putnam and Crown (each defended separately, though now part of the same parent company), he wrote: “The Court concludes, despite plaintiffs’ allegations that the Armstrong books contained false and misleading statements, that the content of the books is afforded full First Amendment protection,” England wrote in his 39-page ruling, issued […]
Legal
Pinkus’s Lawyer Says Harper Lee Suit Is Settled
Harper Lee’s copyright lawsuit against her former agent Sam Pinkus appears to be reaching an end. Pinkus’s lawyer Vincent Carissimi told the NY Daily News late last week that both sides “have reached a mutually satisfactory resolution” and that “all the concerns have been addressed.” In papers filed in federal court last Thursday, Lee dismissed her claims against co-defendants Lee Ann Winick and Gerald Posner, with each side bearing its own legal costs. Carissimi told the Daily News “we have reached a settlement” and indicated that final papers would be filed soon to dismiss the entire case — though such […]
Apple Final Judgment Is Limited, But Could Still Stir eBook Market
On Wednesday, Judge Denise Cote signed on the final judgment and permanent injunction over Apple in the ebook pricing case. The modified agreement is in line with the previous conference and draft, and was jointly submitted to the court by the DOJ, the state attorneys general and Apple. The most important provision regarding the publishing industry stands: “Apple shall not enter into or maintain any agreement with a publisher defendant that restricts, limits, or impedes Apple’s ability to set, alter or reduce the retail price of any e-book.” As was discussed at the conference last week, the language has been […]
Chicago Court Dismisses PIN Code Skimming Lawsuit Against Barnes & Noble
A federal court in Chicago dismissed a lawsuit filed against Barnes & Noble in October 2012 over the skimming of customer PIN codes from credit-card readers at stores in New York, California and seven other states, Bloomberg reports. The original suit, filed by Chicago customer Elizabeth Nowak and later consolidated with three other complaints for class-action seeking status, alleged that BN, by failing to disclose the PIN pad scam to customers for six weeks, was in “breach of an implied contract to protect that information and violation of Illinois consumer fraud laws” and that the company’s “security failures enabled the […]
Briefs: Bloomsbury Buys Legal Publisher; Consumer Settlement Payout Rises
Bloomsbury has acquired Oxford-based legal publisher Hart Publishing for £6.5 million in cash. The company says the unit is expected to “be immediately earnings enhancing.” The purchase is the latest step in their standing promise to boost academic and professional revenues to 50 percent of company sales within 5 years. It also nearly exhausts their cash resources for acquisitions. As of June 30, the company reported cash reserves of £8.5 million. The estimated per-book payouts to ebook consumers as a result of the legal settlements has been increased. Amazon has received attention for an informational post on their forums and email […]
Briefs: Amazon Appeals to Supreme Court, Adds Kindle Mexico; and More
On August 23, Amazon filed a brief with the US Supreme Court, asking it to hear their challenge to New York’s 2008 law requiring the etailer to collect sales tax in the state due to their network of online affiliates (Amazon Associates). The New York Court of Appeals upheld the law in a ruling in March 2013. The company hired former Solicitor General Ted Olson, now at the Washington, DC office of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, who filed the petition, to represent them in the matter. (Irony alert: Apple’s lead law firm in the ebook pricing cases is the New […]