Houghton Mifflin Harcourt filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in New York’s Southern District Court Monday morning, listing debt of more than $1 billion each in the initial court filing. As previously reported, HMH is going through a pre-packaged bankruptcy to eliminate more than $3 billion in debt left over from the initial $7 billion accrued when Riverdeep merged Houghton Mifflin and Harcourt together several years ago, and hopes to complete its financial restructuring by the end of June. Court documents filed by HMH’s counsel Paul, Weiss, Rifkind and Garrison lists assets of “between $10 million and $50 million,” as well […]
Legal
Simon & Schuster Agrees to Settle with States
As expected would happen, Simon & Schuster has signed a memorandum of understanding with the original group of state attorneys general who filed suit against the company as part of the action over ebook pricing. That memo was executed May 10, the parties told Federal Judge Denise Cote, in a motion for dismissal without prejudice of the original complaint. They wrote in the filing that “plaintiff States and Simon and Schuster intend to enter into a settlement agreement, and plaintiff States will subsequently file with the Court a proposed notice and distribution plan.” The court docket confirms the federal case was “terminated” […]
Judge Cote Rejects Motions to Dismiss Agency Class Action Suit; Shows Sympathy for the Plaintiffs
US District Judge Denise Cote formally denied motions by the five agency publishers and Apple to dismiss the class action suit on behalf of ebook consumers over the alleged conspiracy to raise ebook prices via the agency model. The ruling was not unexpected, given the relatively low standards of “stat[ing] a plausible claim” for such a suit to go forward: “Proving conspiracy requires demonstrating ‘a unity of purpose or a common design and understanding, or a meeting of minds in an unlawful arrangement.’ The [complaint] plausibly alleges that each of the defendants shared the twin purposes of raising the price […]
Responses to the Georgia State University Fair Use Ruling
A number of plaintiffs and interested parties have responded Monday to last week’s ruling in the Georgia State University e-reserves lawsuit that found 5 instances of infringement but otherwise dismissed more than 64 instances, and AAP president Tom Allen and the organization’s lead attorney in the case Bruce Rich convened a press briefing by phone on Tuesday morning. Allen that the AAP alone has invested “several million dollars” in the case so far. He underscored that “our members are very conscious that the universities and their libraries are our customers.” Allen added, “our hope is that this is an important […]
Legal Briefs: 17 More States Join Amended eBook Pricing Complaint; ‘Godfather’ Sequel Proceeds in Escrow; and More
Late last week 16 more states, as well as the District of Columbia, joined the amended ebook pricing complaint against Apple and the ‘Agency Five’ publishers, bringing the number of states involved in the lawsuit to 32. Texas and Connecticut initially filed the complaint at the same time as the DOJ; among the new plaintiffs are Virginia, Indiana, New York, and Wisconsin. Page One Bookstore in Albuquerque, NM, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in February 2011, said it expects final approval of a reorganization plan to move forward as a going concern “shortly,” according to the Albuquerque Journal. Owner […]
Judge Finds 5 Cases of Infringement In Georgia State Fair Use Case, But Dismisses All Other Counts
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 […]