Following the AAP’s objection to any issuance of closed–or essentially privately-operated–new internet domains such as .book, others have filed comments in opposition with ICANN as well. The AAP had objected specifically to Amazon’s filings–which also include .author and .read–because the company said it intends to operate the names on a closed basis “to protect its intellectual property rights” and “to support the business goals of Amazon.” Authors Guild president Scott Turow filed what appears to be a broader complaint to the idea of selling such domains to any private enterprise, regardless of whether they will open those domains to public registrations […]
Legal
AAP Objects to Amazon’s Application for Closed .Book Domain
As ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) solicits comments on applications for thousands of potential new “generic” domain names (from corporate names like .Bloomberg to regular words like .blog and .search), the AAP has objected to an application made by Amazon’s Luxmbourg subsidiary for the “.book” domain. Nine different companies applied for .book, including Google, a Bowker subsidiary and a company run by Proquest (and former Bowker) executive Annie Callahan. Reportedly, the application fee for the new domains was $185,000. The AAP objects specifically to the Amazon application but not the others, because Amazon said in their application […]
Penguin Ordered to Participate in States’ eBook Trial, For Now
Though Penguin agreed to settle the ebook lawsuit brought by the Department of Justice in December, the company has yet to finalize a settlement of the parallel state ebook price-fixing lawsuit. With that second suit still pending and heading to trial, on Wednesday afternoon Judge Cote formally denied Penguin’s request to sit out the June 2013 trial (in which Penguin is formally named the lead defendant in the states’ case.) Penguin therefore must submit an initial witness list by March 1, and has until March 15 to file a motion that would “assert its right not to defend against the […]
Judge Sets March 11 Meeting Date on Booksellers’ Suit
Judge Jed Rakoff, the Southern District judge named to preside over the suit filed by three independent booksellers against Amazon and the “big six” publishers, has stipulated a March 11 case management and scheduling conference among the parties. None of the parties have responded to the suit yet, which is not unusual, so the judge’s order indicates that “the fact that any party has not answered the complaint does not excuse attendance by that party or warrant any adjournment of the conference.” For now, the court “requires that this case shall be ready for trial on August 12, 2013,” though […]
ABA Supports “The Concerns” Raised In Booksellers’ Suit
In their first response to the lawsuit filed by three booksellers a week ago against Amazon and the six largest trade publishers, the American Booksellers Association acknowledged that the organization “was approached by one of the plaintiffs” in mid-2012. At that time, they say they were asked “to participate in an antitrust action solely against Amazon.com.” (Refer yourself back to the letter to the DOJ we cited in Friday’s Lunch.) The ABA writes that it “shares the concerns of the plaintiff booksellers regarding Amazon.com’s business practices, as raised in the recently filed lawsuit,” but the statement does not mention the […]
HBG Denounces Bookseller Lawsuit
Another of the publisher defendants in the lawsuit filed last week by three independent booksellers seeking class action status has issued a statement regarding the filing. HBG writes: “The Complaint is absolutely without merit. Hachette Book Group has actively participated in many digital initiatives sponsored by the ABA for the benefit of Indies. We did not take any actions to harm bookstores and Hachette has a strong and long-standing record of support for brick-and-mortar shops, so we are surprised and disappointed that a handful of customers would make these unfounded charges (confusingly, one of the plaintiffs filed a formal comment supporting the very publishers named in this new […]