The documents keep coming in the lead up to the June 3 trial in the ebook pricing case. The latest include Apple’s “proposed findings of fact,” which lays out through Apple’s eyes the timetable of discussions and negotiations with publishers in December 2009 and January 2010 that led to the creation of the iBookstore — and the implementation of the agency model for ebooks. Many people have long suspected Amazon as a prime agitator in the cases brought against publishers and Apple, and the latest filing includes at least a smoking ember: Buried in paragraph 182 is an indication that Amazon […]
Legal
Preparing for Trial: New Documents and Details from the DOJ
The Department of Justice has organized and called attention to a raft of recently filed documents in connection with the pending June 3 trial in the ebook price fixing case, and the official court docket has still more documents — hundreds of pages worth — from Apple, Penguin, the States and more. As one preparatory document indicates, “the parties expect that the trial will last 3 to 4 weeks” (or 12 to 16 trial days). In the government’s new pretrial memorandum of law, their allegations and narrative has become more focused, and enriched with citations from the copious depositions of […]
Apple Wins One From Judge Cote
The ebook pricing case against Apple does not go before US District Court Judge Denise Cote until June 3, but the computer giant has just won another case presented to the same judge. Cote granted summary judgment in Apple’s favor in a trademark case brought by Brick Tower Press over the use of iBooks. The publisher had purchased the assets of Byron Preiss Visual Publications and Preiss’s iPicturebooks, which had published in the early days of commercial ebooks under the iBooks brand. But Judge Cote said Brick Tower’s only rights were in the original logo design, which pair the word […]
Briefs: Court Hears Google Authors Guild Appeal, and More
For avid court watchers, this morning the Federal Court of Appeals was scheduled to hear oral arguments in the fight over whether to certify the author class in the long-running suit brought by the Authors Guild over Google‘s book scanning. Last year Judge Denny Chin approved certification of the class, and Google appealed that decision. We’re going to spare you further details until the court rules. Sony, which has sold its Reader devices in Australia for some time, has finally opened a Reader ebookstore there to go along with those devices. Price cuts on a variety of Nook devices — […]
Harlequin Cuts Jobs On Weak Quarter; Authors Appeal Royalty Lawsuit
Harlequin sales fell 4 percent in the first quarter, down $4 million to $102.5 million (CA) , with operating profit declining 27 percent to $14.9 million, falling $5.6 million in the period. Parent company Torstar had a similar weak overall quarter, and announced further restructuring in both the book publishing and general media divisions. They are cutting approximately 105 jobs companywide — with roughly 20 to 30 of those positions coming from Harlequin (a deduction based on the dollar figures provided). The book publisher took a restructuring charge of $2.3 million for the quarter, and expects to save $2.1 million […]
Legal: More on Harper Lee Lawsuit; Hagar Cleared Over 2011 Defamation Suit
Updating our Monday story on the Harper Lee copyright lawsuit, the full complaint depicts the alleged depths of the scheme that Samuel Pinkus is said to have engaged in, along with Lee Ann Winick and Gerald Posner, to mislead Lee and her publishers about the copyright status of TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. The suit alleges that “Pinkus created several different companies to handle the receipt of royalties and commissions and directed the payment of royalties to a continually changing series of bank accounts” as a bid to avoid the nearly $800,000 in commissions he and his company Veritas Media were required to […]