Judge Orinda Evans of the Northern District of Georgia published her 350-page ruling late Friday on the closely-watched copyright infringement case originally brought in 2008 against Georgia State University by Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, and SAGE Publications. (Actual costs were shared by the Copyright Clearance Center and the AAP, leading the judge to “infer that CCC and AAP organized the litigation and recruited the three plaintiffs to participate.” The ruling–finding the university did infringe in five cases (out of 75 claimed infringements)–has enough room in it to allow most interested parties to claim victory, dissatisfaction, or both, depending […]
Legal
Dear DOJ: Agents Speak Out
The 13-member board of the Association of Authors Representatives has sent a letter to the Department of Justice opposing the proposed agency ebook pricing settlement with Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins, and Simon & Schuster. In a separate email, the AAR called on members “to express their views on the settlement to the DOJ and we hope you will also urge your clients to do the same. Your note might address whether you feel the settlement will foster competition and well-being in the literary marketplace, or the opposite…. We believe it is tremendously important that we all be heard on this […]
Guild and Google Are Back Before Judge Chin, Arguing Over Class Status
Going on seven years later, Google and the Authors Guild are still squabbling over the basic of their lawsuit before Judge Denny Chin (who has otherwise moved on in his career, sitting on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals). Google is challenging the Guild’s new request for certification of the class, spurred by questions about the whether the proposed class could adequately represent the vast interests of different authors during arguments over the rejected settlement of the suit. Google attorney Daralyn Durie confirmed that they continue to negotiate with publishers and photographers, though a representative for the latter said “I […]
Judge Relieves Two Settling Publishers From Discovery
Judge Denise Cote has agreed for now that pending settlements with state attorneys general across the country with Harper Collins and Hachette Book Group might alleviate them from class action suits. The judge issued a stay, until July 11, freeing those two publishers from any depositions and discovery by the class action attorneys. The companies are said to be aiming towards settlements with all 50 states, and have argued that such a broad settlement could effectively cover all potential claimants who are part of the class.
Judge Dismisses Suit Against Greg Mortenson and Penguin, Calls Claims “Overly Broad” and “Flimsy”
On Monday a federal judge in Montana tossed out a lawsuit filed by four book buyers against Greg Mortenson and Penguin on the grounds that THREE CUPS OF TEA’s alleged fabrications deceived the quartet into believing the book was nonfiction. In dimissing the complaint charging fraud, deceit, racketeering and breach of contract, US district judge Sam Haddon said the lawsuit, which has been pending for more than a year, was based on “imprecise, in part flimsy, and speculative” claims and that the further pursuit of legal action “would be futile.” Haddon was particularly critical of the plaintiffs’ racketeering claims, saying […]
What Judge Denise Cote’s Past Rulings May Say About The eBook Price Fixing Case
When the Department of Justice sued Apple and the “Agency Five” publishers, they requested the case be presided over by Southern District Court of New York federal judge Denise Cote, since she was already hearing the proposed class action lawsuit that merged a number of actions in New York and California. We thought it might be instructive to look at some of the key cases Judge Cote has ruled on since she was appointed as a federal judge in 1994 that may provide some insight into how she might approach the ebook price fixing suits by the federal government and […]