At the beginning of last week, on March 18, both HarperCollins and Open Road filed motions for summary judgment in the case questioning whether Harper controls the right to publish an ebook edition of Jean Craighead George’s JULIE OF THE WOLVES. The two sides agree on one, and only one, point: that the original contract is unambiguous, and judgment in their favor should be granted without further argument. And this is why electronic rights to older books are more generally classified as “in dispute.” Both sides present experts to help interpret the 1971 agreement and the state of electronic rights […]
Legal
Penguin Sues Supposed Online Library (Again) for Posting Full Books
Penguin has refiled a lawsuit against nonprofit “online library” American Buddha for posting full copies of their books online. They originally sued the site in New York federal court in 2009, but the court said it did not have jurisdiction over the site, so the new suit was filed in a Portland, OR federal court. The action began with the discovery in 2008 of a full copy of E.J. Kenney’s translation of “The Golden Ass” on American Buddha’s site. The suit, which asks for an injunction as well as damages, cites the posting of other books such as Upton Sinclair’s OIL! and […]
Kohn Tries A New Argument, Asking Court to Allow Full Agency
Royalty Share ceo and attorney Bob Kohn is taking a new approach to asking the court to mitigate the effects of the ebook pricing settlements with the Department of Justice. He recently submitted Tunney Act comments on the new settlement pending with Penguin. This time, rather than asking the court to reject the settlement entirely, he suggests that they modify its provisions. Kohn asks that the restrictions on Penguin’s use of the agency model be removed. If the court agrees, he will seek the same modification for both the pending Macmillan settlement and the already approved settlements with Hachette, Harper […]
Supreme Court Rules Against Wiley In Overseas First Sale Case
In 6–3 decision, the Supreme Court overturned a lower court decision and sided with the defendant in John Wiley’s case against Supap Kirtsaeng, trying to block his resale inside the US of textbooks produced and sold overseas in less expensive editions. The high court agreed with Kirtsaeng that the first sale doctrine applies, even to goods produced overseas. Other content-focused industries had joined publishers in support for Wiley’s case. In the dissent, Justices Kennedy, Scalia and Ginsburg expressed concern that the Court was ignoring Congress’ intention of protecting “copyright owners against the unauthorized importation of low-priced, foreign-made copies of their copyrighted works.” Justice […]
Judge Sets October Trial Date in Bookseller DRM Lawsuit
New York Southern District Federal Judge Jed Rakoff is sticking to his plan for moving to trial quickly with the lawsuit filed by three booksellers against Amazon and the largest six publishing houses for Kindle DRM lock-in. After initially telling the parties “the court “requires that this case shall be ready for trial on August 12, 2013,” on Thursday Rakoff gave just a little–formalizing a schedule that would move the case towards an October trial. Earlier in the week Rakoff rejected a motion to stay discovery indefinitely. Judge Rakoff is giving the plaintiffs a whole week, until March 21, to […]
Legal: Yes, Of Course Apple’s CEO Will Testify…and More Suits Updated
Judge Cote ruled in a Wednesday morning teleconference hearing that Apple ceo Tim Cook must testify as part of the DOJ’s lawsuit against Apple in June. Reuters reported that Judge Cote cited the death of Steve Jobs as a key reason in ordering Cook’s deposition, which will last for a minimum of four hours. “Because of that loss, I think the government is entitled to take testimony from high-level executives within Apple about topics relevant to the government case,” she said. Apple had tried to insulate Cook from the trial, saying he was not named in the original antitrust complaint […]