HarperCollins announced Tuesday night that they have “reached an agreement with Gawker resolving the lawsuit” filed over the web site’s pre-publication posting of 21 pages from Sarah Palin’s just-released book AMERICA BY HEART. The publisher says “Gawker has agreed to keep the posted material off its web site and not to post the material again in the future.” Harper indicates that Judge Thomas Griesa, who issued the temporary restraining order on Saturday, said in an opinion released Monday that “the purpose of the copyright law is to prevent the kind of copying that has taken place here.” They say he […]
Legal
Harper Gets Temporary Restraining Order Blocking Gawker Excerpts
Federal District Court Judge Thomas Griesa convened a hearing Saturday afternoon on HarperCollins’ filing against Gawker. The judge issued a temporary restraining order under which Gawker is “restrained and enjoined from continuing to distribute, publish or otherwise transmit pages” of Sarah Palin’s forthcoming book. A hearing has been set for November 30. In compliance with the order, Gawker is no longer displaying the 21 pages of the book that they had posted on their site. Since Palin’s book will be published on Tuesday, the real question now is whether Gawker will be assessed damages for copyright infringement. In an earlier […]
Harper Sues Gawker for Infringement Over Palin Excerpts
As we suggested was in the works in this morning’s Publishers Lunch, HarperCollins filed suit against Gawker late Friday in the US District Court in Manhattan, claiming that the web site’s publication of images of 21 pages from Sarah Palin’s new 304-page book ahead of its release is copyright infringement. Harper asked to have the pages removed and is seeking financial damages, and also sought the return of the copy of the book itself, the AP writes.. Gawker did not respond to a request for comment from the wire service, which says that the site “refused to take down [the […]
Hachette Livre and Google Craft Their Own Settlement for French Books
Hachette Livre in France, which filed multiple objections to the still-pending Google Books Settlement, announced today “a memorandum of understanding that defines the terms for Google to scan Hachette Livre’s French language books” that effectively substitutes direct agreement for what the settlement had originally proposed for “commercially unavailable” books from around the world. The parties have six months of “fine tuning” to craft a binding agreement, and they envision the agreement as a template whose “basic terms and conditions will be made available to all French publishers.” Like the settlement, the agreement focuses on in-copyright, “commercially unavailable” works published by […]
Seattle Judge Agrees with Amazon’s First Amendment Argument and Blocks North Carolina’s Sales Tax Request
US District Judge Marsha Pechman agreed with the argument that North Carolina’s request from Amazon for personal customer data that could be matched to their purchase records violates the First Amendment. She affirmed that an individual’s purchases of books, music, and other products is protected. Pechman indicated that the state was free to make a new request for customer data “provided it destroys any detailed information that the department currently possesses.”Bloomberg
Tip Says NookColor to Debut Next Week, As Delaware Court Lets BN Shareholder Lawsuit Go Forward
The rumor on Barnes & Noble’s press event for next Tuesday is that the company will launch a color touchscreen ereader priced at $249. CNET cites an anonymous “tipster” who “has proven reliable in the past.” Separately, SlashGear points out that Barnes & Noble registered the URL NookColor.com in March (and updated their registration record earlier this month).CNET In other Barnes & Noble news, Delaware chancellor Leo Strine Jr. agreed with shareholders who have sued the company over the purchase of Barnes & Noble college last year, saying the acquisition process “gives off a very fishy smell.” Strine therefore declined […]