Judge Alan D. Albright of the US District Court for the Western District of Texas, Austin Division again ruled that Texas’s “READER Act,” which would require booksellers to rate every book they sell to public school libraries based on vague notions of “sexually explicit material,” is unconstitutional. He issued a permanent injunction against the law. Albright, who made the same ruling in 2023 before the case was appealed, agreed with plaintiffs Blue Willow Bookshop, BookPeople, the ABA, AAP, Authors Guild, and the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, that “READER can and does violate the First Amendment in several ways.” Albright […]
Legal
Trump Refiles Defamation Suit Against Penguin Random House and NYT
After Florida District Court Judge Steven D. Merryday rejected Donald Trump’s initial $15 billion defamation suit against Penguin Random House, the New York Times, and New York Times reporters on the grounds that it was too long and “tedious,” Trump filed a new version that meets the judge’s limit of no more than 40 pages. The new complaint more prominently leads the “allegations” by quoting 22 statements from Susanne Craig and Russ Buettner’s book LUCKY LOSER: How Donald Trump Squandered His Father’s Fortune and Created the Illusion of Success, claiming that the work “published many false, malicious, and defamatory statements.” […]
Anthropic Settlement Website Launches Searchable Database of Works, Claims Portal
The Anthropic settlement website has launched the official searchable database of eligible works, as well as a portal for filing claims. Authors who think their books might have been pirated can search the Anthropic works list by title, author, publisher, or ISBN, and the site will provide a US Copyright Office registration number they will need to file a claim. An extensive FAQ explains key information about the claims process and details how the body of eligible works went from an alleged 7 million books illegally downloaded from LibGen and PiLiMi down to the 482,460 works covered by the settlement. […]
FL Judge Denies TANGO Authors’ Free Speech Claim
A judge in the Northern District of Florida ruled against two authors’ lawsuit against a school board, claiming that removing their book, AND TANGO MAKES THREE, from school libraries violates students’ and the authors’ First Amendment rights. Authors Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson, plus an elementary school student known as B. G., argue that the book, which depicts a same-sex relationship between penguins who care for a chick, was removed based on its viewpoint. In his opinion, Judge Allen Cothrel Winsor often looks to the Texas book banning case Little v. Llano, which determined that “a library’s collection decisions are […]
Judge Approves Anthropic Settlement
U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup granted preliminary approval for the $1.5 billion copyright infringement settlement between Anthropic and the class of author plaintiffs. The plaintiffs had filed additional documents on Tuesday answering the judge’s 34 questions and explaining the claims process. The documents also revealed that the final works list included 482,460 titles. Bloomberg reports that Alsup called the settlement “fair” and said the plaintiffs will need “excellent” lawyers to execute the claims process. He said, “We have some of the best lawyers in America in the courtroom right now and I think you can do it.” “This settlement […]
More Anthropic Settlement Documents and Answers Take Shape
In keeping with the court’s deadlines, plaintiffs’ counsel and Anthropic filed numerous additional materials on Tuesday. The attachments here show the proposed Claim Form and the proposed Long-Form Notice that will be sent to potential claimants explaining the settlement. Additionally, the attorneys filed their answers to Judge William Alsup’s 34 additional questions — many of which were already answered by the proposed plan of allocation filed on Monday. In those answers, we learn that the final corrected works list contains 482,460 works. They confirm that for any unclaimed work, those funds will be redistributed among all of the actual claimants. On […]