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
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.”
Judge Rules Lance Armstrong’s Books Are Protected Speech; Rejects False Advertising Claims
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 […]
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 […]