Last week the Charlotte Sheedy Literary Agency filed suit in New York State Supreme Court against Sterling Lord Literistic, which Sheedy’s agency had been affiliated with since 1995. The complaint charges SLL with multiple breaches of a contract between the two agencies from 2009, which was terminated on February 15, 2011. Among the most serious allegations are that SLL had agreed in that 2009 contract to pay Sheedy $128,000 and has “refused and failed to pay the entire sum” and “purported to grant itself numerous set-offs…in order to reduce the amount shown to be owed.” Sheedy also claims that SLL […]
Legal
Author of Historical Novel Featuring JRR Tolkien Files Pre-Emptive Complaint To Counter Estate Objections
The JRR Tolkien Estate’s perennial objections to the use and licensing of the author’s work and characters were back inn the spotlight last week after Stephen Hilliard, the Texas-based author of “Mirkwood, A Novel About J.R.R. Tolkien”, an historical novel featuring Tolkien as a character, filed a lawsuit in Texas District Court in an attempt to release the book, published through BookSurge. Hilliard told the Hollywood Reporter that on the eve of the novel’s release, the Tolkien Estate filed a cease-and-desist letter alleging “it had a property right to commercially exploit the name and likeness of J.R.R. Tolkien” and that […]
Who Else Benefits – Or Suffers – From Borders’ Bankruptcy?
In addition to the bankruptcy’s effect on book sales and publishers’ respective bottom lines, Borders’ Chapter 11 filing will have a domino effect on a number of related players, among them: LandlordsPublicly-traded Michigan-based Agree Realty was often cited as being in the most precarious position, because Borders stores made up approximately 20% of their total real estate portfolio (and was as high as 27%). Yesterday Agree released a statement indicating that 5 of the 14 Borders properties it owns (which includes company headquarters in Ann Arbor, up for sale, and two buildings not currently occupied by Borders) are slated for […]
Australia/New Zealand’s Dominant Bookstore Group Also Files for Bankruptcy
Bankruptcy is spreading through the world English-publishing world as Australia and New Zealand’s leading bookselling organization RedGroup Retail has been placed into voluntary administration by private equity owners PEP. The group comprises Angus & Robertson in Australia (with over 160 stores), Whitcoulls in New Zealand (with 65 stores), Borders in Australia (26 stores), New Zealand and Singapore, and the Calendar Club in both Australia and New Zealand. The combined entities employ approximately 2,500 people. The Age reported today that REDgroup “was forced to call in administrators to the businesses this afternoon following a board meeting.” All stores are slated to […]
US Court Dismisses Harry Potter Suit from Willy the Wizard Heirs
US Southern District Court Judge Shira Scheindlin dismissed a lawsuit brought the estate of Adrian Jacobs, author of the 1987 book Willy the Wizard, alleging that his copyright was infringed by HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE. Judge Scheindlin concluded that “the contrast between the total concept and feel of the works is so stark that any serious comparison of the two strains credulity.” A similar, earlier lawsuit in the UK against Bloomsbury and JK Rowling was allowed to go forward last October if the estate paid money as security for the costs (since in the UK, the loser pays). […]
Two Legal Alerts: Crackdown on Photo Licenses, and Project Gutenberg May Have Incorrectly Posted Copyrighted Stories that Ran In Magazines As Public Demain
For a long time at least some publishers have licensed photographs for books under terms that cover a specified maximum number of copies only, without rigorously revisiting those limits for compliance later on. As Photo District News reports, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s textbook division has been the focus of “30 copyright infringement claims over the past five years in federal courts” from photographers and others. At least three of the claims have been thrown out of court based on a finding of improper copyright registration, and there have been settlements in “about 20″ of those cases so far.” They write: “In […]