In a lawsuit reminiscent of some publishing disputes over contracts from decades ago, on Monday the Tolkien Estate and HarperCollins have sued Warner Bros., New Line and the Saul Zaentz Company for allegedly overreaching in their licensing of merchandising rights to The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. The suit argues that the original grant of merchandising rights in 1969 (as further amended in 1975 and again in 1981) covered only “all articles of tangible personal property”–and thus “did not include any grant of exploitations such as electronic or digital rights.” They allege that the filmmakers have “with increasing […]
Legal
Tyndale House Gets Injunction to Avoid Providing Employees Certain Types of Contraception
Christian publisher Tyndale House is right in the middle of the controversy over the application of new health care requirements to organizations with religious beliefs at their core. U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton has issued a preliminary injunction in the publisher’s favor, exempting Tyndale House for now from providing contraceptive coverage to employees as mandated by the new health care law. Judge Walton wrote in his order, “The contraceptive coverage mandate affirmatively compels the plaintiffs to violate their religious beliefs in order to comply with the law and avoid the sanctions that would be imposed for their noncompliance.” Tyndale says […]
Army Officer Is Cleared to Sue for Right to Publish Unredacted Version of His Book
One of the stranger cases of government censorship is back in the news, as Army Reserve Lt. Colonel Anthony Shaffer has been granted standing to sue the Defense Intelligence Agency in an effort to publish an unredacted version of his 2010 book OPERATION DARK HEART. The judge correctly recognized that Shaffer did not sell all of his rights to his publisher (as the government argued), he licensed a limited basket of rights: “Mr. Shaffer wrote and wants to publish his complete book as originally approved by the Army. There is no doubt that the Defendant Agencies are preventing him from […]
eNews: Kobo Opens in South Africa; Brazil’s Saraiva Looks to Sell Online Division; “Patent Troll” Moves to Amazon and BN with New Suit
Kobo has partnered with South African retailer Pick n Pay to launch their devices and ebookstore there, offering books in both English and Afrikaans. There’s further news on Brazil’s leading bookseller Saraiva, whose stock jumped earlier in the month on reports that they might be in acquisition talks with Amazon. The updated Reuters account says Saraiva is looking to sell their online business only, while retaining their 102 bookstores and publishing operation. That goal would seem to fit quite well with Amazon’s continuing aspirations to launch operations, and Kindle in particular, in Brazil–though it could also appeal to other international […]
BN Faces Credit Card Suit; Readies HD Releases
The first customer lawsuit has been filed against Barnes & Noble over the comprising of customer credit card data following the PIN pad scam acknowledged by the company earlier this month. Chicago customer Elizabeth Nowak filed suit in Federal Court, seeking class action status, alleging “breach of an implied contract to protect that information and violation of Illinois consumer fraud laws.” The customer seeks unspecified damages and three years of free credit card monitoring for affected patrons. Her suit claims that “Barnes & Noble’s security failures enabled the skimmers to steal financial data from within Barnes & Noble’s stores and subsequently […]
Supreme Court Ask Tough Questions on Wiley Case to Block US Resale of Books Made Overseas
Though many offices on the East Coast were shuttered Monday, the Supreme Court was open for business and heard arguments on the closely-watched Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons case. Lower courts have supported Wiley’s contention that the first-sale doctrine does not apply to goods produced overseas (in this case overseas editions of their textbooks, which they don’t want to see resold in the US), and those books cannot be resold domestically without the manufacturer’s permission. In the closest comparable case, Costco v. Omega, the court divided 4-4 on a similar question regarding watches. (Justice Elena Kagan recused herself because […]