When US District Court Judge John Koeltl found quickly and overwhelmingly in publishers’ favor on March 24, granting summary judgment finding the Internet Archive guilty of copyright infringement on a mass scale, he gave the parties 14 days to submit proposals “for the appropriate procedure to determine the judgment to be entered in this case.” Since then the parties have been in regular contact, petitioning the court regularly for extensions. On Wednesday, ahead of the latest deadline on April 27, they got the judge’s permission for a fourth extension, until May 12. In their letter to the judge they wrote: […]
Legal
Employees at Barnes & Noble Education’s Rutgers Location Look to Become Chain’s First Union Store
Employees at a Barnes & Noble Education store on the campus of Rutgers University are petitioning to become the first unionized outlet among the chain’s 785 stores. Bloomberg reports that worker says most of the approximately 70 employees at the Rutgers store have signed on. Last Thursday that filed with the National Labor Relations Board to hold an election on unionizing. The group wants to join the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. The workers who spoke to Bloomberg indicated they seek better pay, job security and more stable work hour.
Future Commissions To Be Sold in Donadio & Olson Bankruptcy Auction
A bankruptcy auction for the assets of former literary agency Donadio & Olson will be held on April 19. The agency filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy in December 2018 after being defrauded by their outside bookkeeper, Darrin Webb. Bankruptcy trustee Deborah Piazza will auction off three assets: commissions, judgements, and remnant assets. Since the shutdown of the agency, publishers have paid agency commissions to the trustee, while sending royalties directly to the authors. The trustee’s lawyer, Robert A. Wolf at Tarter Krinsky & Drogin, estimates that the estate has received about $300,000 in commissions, which is used to pay legal and […]
Library of Congress Makes Pandemic Copyright Deposit Accommodation Permanent, Will Transition to “Mostly-Digital System”
The Library of Congress recently announced changes to its copyright registration deposit requirements. Notably, they have made permanent an accommodation created during the pandemic that allows people to upload digital copies of the material they would like to deposit, in advance of sending hard copies, for faster approval. The LOC writes that applicants who are required to submit a physical copy of the best edition are now “allowed to upload a digital copy of the work and a deposit declaration form confirming that they have sent or intend to send the required physical copies within three days.” The Office “examines […]
Publishers and Authors Win: The Internet Archive Is Guilty of “Wholesale Copying and Unauthorized Lending”
In a significant victory for authors and publishers, on Friday New York Federal Court Judge John Koeltl ruled swiftly, clearly and conclusively, granting summary judgment for the litigating publishers against the Internet Archive on the allegations of mass copyright infringement. The judge wrote: “At bottom, IA’s fair use defense rests on the notion that lawfully acquiring a copyrighted print book entitles the recipient to make an unauthorized copy and distribute it in place of the print book, so long as it does not simultaneously lend the print book. But no case or legal principle supports that notion. Every authority points […]
Manuscript Thief Bernardini Sentenced to Time Served and Will be Deported
Judge Colleen McMahon sentenced Filippo Bernardini to time served on Thursday, following his guilty plea to one count of wire fraud related to his years of stealing pre-publication manuscripts. Bernardini had already agreed to pay restitution of $88,000 to Penguin Random House, to be paid in monthly installments given his limited means. His sentence includes 3 years of supervised release, though he is also ordered to be deported to the UK or Italy. The charge carried a maximum possible sentence of 20 years in prison. Assistant US Attorney Daniel G. Nessim had written that, “A sentence of at least one […]