Many people have long suspected that the only way to clarify the status of electronic rights for older, so-called “in dispute” works is through litigation. Just before Christmas, late in the day on Friday, December 23, HarperCollins says they filed the first suit in this unresolved area against Open Road Integrated Media in Federal court in the NY’s Southern District, alleging copyright infringement in their ebook edition of Jean Craighead George’s 1971 classic, JULIE OF THE WOLVES. (Other cases so far have had negotiated solutions, or led to standing but unlitigated disagreements.) Open Road is, of course, the company founded […]
Legal
Authors: WIMPY KID’s Kinney Sues For Trademark Infringement; BN Ships Green’s FAULT OF OUR STARS Early
Author of the DIARY OF A WIMPY KID series Jeff Kinney filed a lawsuit Tuesday in a Boston federal court alleging that DIARY OF A ZOMBIE KID, published by Antarctic Press, “blatantly infringed [Kinney’s] intellectual property and diluted its trademarks.” (Kinney and his company trademarked the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” title and the name and look of the books’ main character with the US Patent & Trademark Office under “publications, namely a series of children’s books” in Class 16 and, “Board games; card games; plush toys; toy action figures; puzzles” in Class 28, respectively.) In addition to the “confusingly […]
Unsecured Borders Creditors to Get Close to 10 Cents on Dollar As Liquidation Plan Approved
Federal bankruptcy court put its official stamp on the end of Borders, as the chain’s liquidation plan was approved by Judge Martin Glenn on Tuesday. Approximately 98 percent of creditors holding $211.5 million in debt voted to approve the plan. As previously reported, unsecured creditors owed between $812 million and $850 million will receive 4 to 10 cents on the dollar, but court papers indicate that recovery may be in the “higher end of the range,” with Borders lawyer Andrew Glenn stipulating in court that percentage may be even higher still, according to Bloomberg. In addition, Borders got the go-ahead to […]
Agency Lawsuits Will Be Handled In New York
Agency publishers got a measure of what passes for good news in today’s climate on Friday. A judicial panel on multidistrict litigation decided on Friday that the plethora of class action suits alleging conspiracy to fix ebook prices will be consolidated under the jurisdiction of the Southern District of New York. The panel said it “will serve the convenience of the parties and witnesses and promote the just and efficient conduct of this litigation.” The panel noted that “nearly all defendants, including all publishing defendants, are located in New York City, giving it a nexus to the allegations.” And “all […]
DOJ Confirms to Congress They Are Looking at eBooks
While the Department of Justice has previously acknowledged that it’s antritust division has been looking at agency ebook pricing, yesterday a particular DOJ official went on the record for the first time. Acting antitrust chief Sharis Pozen told a Congressional committee at a hearing that “we are also investigating the electronic book industry, along with the European Commission and the states attorneys general,” quoted in the WSJ. Of course DOJ began an investigation into Apple’s practices in the market for digital music–where it actually is dominant–back in the spring of 2010. The Texas attorney general’s office has been looking at […]
Borders Creditors Will Get Only 4 to 10 Cents On the Dollar
Borders’ current plan for Chapter 11 liquidation proceedings got a preliminary go-ahead in federal bankruptcy court Monday afternoon, when Judge Martin Glenn signed off on the company’s explanatory disclosure statement of their liquidation program. Borders currently expects to pay unsecured creditors somewhere between 4 and 10 percent of the $812 million to $850 million they are owed. Among other items gleaned from the documents: at some point “during the course of these cases,” Perseus resigned from the creditors committee (as did Sony Music). Borders continues to insist that they “intend to market [their] Kobo stock for sale.” They hold roughly 9.9 percent […]