The Iowa Supreme Court overturned a 2010 ruling in which the lower court judge proclaimed “Author Solutions is not the New York Times.” In the legal sense, the two entities are now the same. The Iowa high court determined that internet publishers–even those that are paid for their services–qualify for free speech protection. Their definition of protected media now includes “any person or company that receives writings and makes them ‘more suitable and accessible for the public to read.'” As the Des Moines Register reports, “ASI and media companies had asked the court to strike down a legal doctrine known […]
Legal
People: Weber Appointed Macmillan Trade COO, and More
Andrew Weber has joined Macmillan as global trade chief operating officer, reporting to ceo John Sargent. In his new role, Weber will be responsible for all US finance, accounting, distribution, legal, human resources, technology, M&A, and strategy functions, while also overseeing Macmillan’s UK distribution business MDL and global responsibility for trade administration and technology. Weber spent 16 years at Random House, eventually serving as svp, operations and technology, and was most recently vp, operations at e-commerce startup Bonobos. In a statement Sargent said, “I am delighted that Andrew has agreed to join us. His wide breadth of experience in strategy, […]
People, Etc.
Former publisher of Perseus’s Vanguard Press Roger Cooper is launching a publishing consulting firm, Roger Cooper Associates. He will be working with publishers and literary agents with ebook publishing programs to acquire digital content, and with business authors and companies to develop print and digital properties. He can be reached at rcoopernyc@gmail.com. Esther Fleece has joined Yates & Yates as an agent and vp of marketing. Most recently she was a senior leader at Focus on the Family, and in 2012, she was chosen by CNN as among the five women in religion to watch. The Guardian ran their annual feature in which […]
Proposed UK Copyright Changes Would Allow Personal, Private Copying of eBooks
The latest step in a process that has been underway for a while, the UK’s Intellectual Property Office published their proposals for changes to the country’s copyright law to provide “greater freedom to use copyright works such as computer games, paintings, photographs, films, books, and music, while protecting the interests of authors and right owners…. These form part of the Government’s response to creating a modern, robust and flexible copyright framework.” Trade publishers will be most focused on the “private copying” rule “to permit people to copy digital content they have bought onto any medium or device that they own, […]
Macmillan Voluntarily Adopts Their Version of Agency Lite, But Declines to Settle; Library eBooks Are Coming Soon
With trademark candor, Macmillan ceo John Sargent’s year-end letter to authors, illustrators and agents presents more than the usual amount of updates. Counteracting any year-end punditry, Sargent says they “have completed the court-ordered mediation process with the DOJ without any progress toward settlement” and will proceed to trial. He held his letter after Penguin’s settlement was filed yesterday, but :after some long thought, I’m sending you the letter I wrote unchanged. That is because our position has not changed.” Sargent forsees another suit coming, saying that “now even our friends in Canada are taking a look,” and clarifies that their […]
People
At Balzer + Bray, Sara Sargent has been promoted to associate editor. In the UK, Joel Rickett has been promoted to publisher of Viking UK and Portfolio UK. Ruth Alltimes will move to Harper Children’s UK as publishing director, fiction in January, reporting to fiction and licensed properties director, Rachel Denwood. She has been publishing director of the fiction list at Macmillan Children’s UK. Patti Smith discusses with Billboard her plans for a few books she is working on “simultaneously,” including her next memoir. She says it “is in more of the ‘Just Kids’ vein and even in the similar time period, […]