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 […]
Legal
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 […]
A Skeptical Judge Presses Internet Archive to Cite Cases That Support Their Copying
Judge John Koeltl held a lengthy hearing Monday afternoon on motions for summary judgment from both sides in the copyright infringement lawsuit brought by four major publishers against the Internet Archive for “willful mass copyright infringement.” With extensive papers already filed with the court since the case was filed in June 2020, it seemed likely that the hearing held by telephone will be all the judge requires in order to reach a final ruling on the case. The plaintiffs’ case is pretty straight-forward and aligns with how the copyright laws are written and have been interpreted across many cases, in […]
Government Underscores that Copyright Is for Human-Created Works, and AI-Generated Material Is Not Protectable
After finding last month that AI-generated artwork in a graphic novel did not qualify for copyright protection, the US Copyright Office has now published a more extensive paper, “Copyright Registration Guidance: Works Containing Material Generated by Artificial Intelligence.” The key point is their reiteration of the view that, “It is well-established that copyright can protect only material that is the product of human creativity.” Therefore, anyone applying for a copyright has “a duty to disclose the inclusion of AI-generated content in a work submitted for registration and to provide a brief explanation of the human author’s contributions to the work.” […]