Macmillan ceo John Sargent told the publishers’ community Friday morning they company is settling the lawsuit brought by the Department of Justice: “We settled because the potential penalties became too high to risk even the possibility of an unfavorable outcome.” As Sargent explains, each time another company settled with DOJ, that increased Macmillan’s potential liability, to the point where the risk became untenable. As a result of the settlement, “retailers will now be able to discount Macmillan e-books for a limited time,” even beyond the limited 10 percent discounting on ebooks priced at $13.99 and above that they introduced last […]
Legal
Legal: Judge Throws Out Negligence Case Against Penguin, Michael Capuzzo; Licensing Company Sues Penguin for Contract Breach
Earlier this month a New Jersey federal court judge dismissed a lawsuit filed against Penguin and author Michael Capuzzo that alleged his 2010 book THE MURDER ROOM was negligent in recounting an extramarital affair. Significantly, as we’ll detail below, the judge accepted standard publishing process for relying on the author’s work and warranties and not performing detailed “fact-checking.” As we reported in March 2011, plaintiff Joan Crescenz sued for defamation claiming that a 30-year relationship with employer and forensic sculptor Frank Bender described in the book never happened. Crescenz also said the allegations violated her privacy and that she wasn’t […]
Legal: Iowa Extends Free Speech Protection to Internet Publishers
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 […]
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, […]