The Department of Justice has already received over 150 comments, comprising over 200 pages, on the proposed ebook pricing settlement, and expects “a similar or greater volume of comments” to come in between now and the June 25 deadline. Recognizing that print publication is an expensive process, Justice has asked Judge Cote to excuse the department from publishing the comments and the department’s responses in the Federal Register, estimating that publication costs would exceed $100,000. Instead, they ask for permission to publish everything electronically on the antitrust division’s web site, promising that will allow Justice to keep to the court’s […]
Legal
Google Settles French Scanning Lawsuits; Creates Commercial Model for Out-of-Print Access
Google Books has achieved in France what the company has been unable to do in the US: They have settled the remaining lawsuits over their book scanning with the French Publishers Association (Syndicat national de l’édition) and the French Author’s Association (Société des gens de lettres) and instituted a commercial arrangement for selling access to out-of-print books that Google has scanned. Strategic Partner Development Manager of Google Books France Philippe Colombet says the new “partnerships…will put France ahead of the rest of the world in bringing long lost out-of-print works back to life. From now, publishers will promote and commercialize […]
Barnes & Noble Says Settlement Overreaches, And Punishes the Wrong Parties
Barnes & Noble, with assistance from counsel David Boies at Boies, Schiller & Flexner, has filed a formal objection to the proposed settlement in the agency pricing case. In an argument reminiscent of the Department of Justice’s objections that led to the rejection of the Google Books settlement, BN argues that the settlement imposes “overreaching regulatory provisions” that “will transform the [Antitrust] Division into a regulator” and that the penalties imposed are not remedies actually “sought or mentioned” in the lawsuit itself. They argue that DOJ actually seeks to engage in the settlement in the very behavior they prosecuted for: “The Division […]
Amazon Is Awarded Patent from 2008 Covering Digital Gifts
Amazon continues to display their prowess in acquiring patents for digital business processes. Back in 2008 the company thought to apply for protection for a method of giving digital presents–including ebooks, along with other digital entertainment products. As GeekWire reports, that patent was officially granted this Tuesday. The site notes that the original patent includes the possibility that a gift-giver could forestall payment until the recipient has actually claimed their digital gift though as a matter of practice, customers currently pay for Kindle gifts on purchase.
Judge Certifies Class In Google Case Yet Again; GSU Plaintiffs Propose Injunction; The Agency Index
Unsurprisingly, Judge Denny Chin agreed with his own ruling from 2005 and once again agreed to certification of the class of authors in the refiled Google Books infringement case–thus sentencing himself to potentially years more of administering this case. He also approved associational plaintiff status for both the Authors Guild and the American Society of Media Photographers. One shouldn’t read much into the ruling other than that the case will go forward all over again. In part, Chin used Google’s own actions against them: “Given the sweeping and undiscriminating nature of Google’s unauthorized copying, it would be unjust torequire that each […]
Letters to Justice: Kohn’s 55-Page Brief, and Bookseller Peter Glassman’s Argument
CEO of RoyaltyShare, co-founder of eMusic, and former general counsel of companies including Borland Software Bob Kohn has dispatched a 55-page letter to the Department of Justice objecting to their price-fixing complaint in what probably qualifies as the most interesting legal brief to emerge in this case so far–even though it’s technically just a letter. Kohn essentially offers a more thorough and artful explanation of why he believes the agency model was pro-competitive rather than anti-competitive than what the defendants themselves have provided. Without the burden (or evidence) to deny the allegations themselves, he argues in broad form that “something […]