Bill Gertz at the Washington Times reports that the CIA has filed a breach of contract lawsuit against the pseudonymous author Ishmael Jones over publication of his 2008 book THE HUMAN FACTOR: Inside the CIA’s Dysfunctional Intelligence Culture (Encounter Books). The agency alleges that Jones, a former deep-cover agent working in the Middle East and Europe, puyblished “a book without the agency’s permission and in violation of his secrecy agreement.” Jones say that, rather than reviewing the book and suggesting changes, the agency essentially wanted none of it published. The paper says the suit was filed in an Eastern Virginia […]
Legal
Legal Briefs: Steinbeck Descendants Lose Again, Willy the Wizard Persists, Amazon Presses for Buyer Privacy
John Steinbeck’s son and granddaughter has lost yet another legal attempt to gain control over the author’s literary estate from the estate of Steinbeck’s third wife Elaine. A Second Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a ruling from last year granting summary judgment in favor of Elaine Steinbeck’s estate and the McIntosh & Otis literary agency in a suit that included claims she had breached her fiduciary duty to act in the interests of all beneficiaries.Law 360 In Federal Court in Seattle yesterday Amazon argued on First Amendment grounds to have the state of North Carolina relinquish their demand for customer […]
Oh, Texas: Appeals Court to Hear Defamation Case While Education Officials Move to Limit Books that Cover Islam
Tomorrow the Texas Court of Appeals will hear arguments on behalf of author Carla Main and publisher Encounter Books, seeking to dismiss a defamation suit brought by Dallas develop H. Walker Royal. Royal’s suit has asked for a permanent injunction against further printing and distribution of the book. When the suit was first before a Texas judge, George F. Will wrote a column about “bulldozing freedom of speech,” saying the court was “being asked to collaborate in the suppression of a book.” He added: “Indeed, so slapdash are Royall’s accusations against Main that his suit seems to reflect nothing more […]
Posner and Simon & Schuster Sued for Infringement, As Publisher Faces Odd Campaign Finance Allegations As Well
In March Gerald Posner admitted his fall 2009 book MIAMI BABYLON included some passages from Frank Owen’s CLUBLAND. At the time, Posner blamed faulty research methodology, and said “if you use something from another book, a statement from another book, it needs to be in quotations, or if you take something and put it in your own syntax and grammar, you still need to cite it.” He promised to review his book further and revise the material. (This came a month after Posner resigned from the Daily Beast after it was found that he copied material from Miami Herald articles […]
Connecticut’s Statement on eBook Pricing Focuses on MFN Clauses
Following yesterday’s short piece on the questioning of Apple and Amazon by the Connecticut attorney general’s office they issued a press release and posted letters sent to both companies. AG Richard Blumenthal is currently running for the US Senate seat being vacated by Christopher Dodd. Though favored to win, Blumenthal suffered somewhat in May after admitting that “on a few occasions I have misspoken about my service” in the military, erroneously indicating he had served in Viet Nam. (The NYT also revealed that Blumenthal received multiple deferments between 1965 and 1970 before joining the Marine Corp Reserve.) Some observers wonder […]
Connecticut Joins Texas In Investigating Agency Model eBook Pricing
After our exclusive report in June on preliminary questioning underway from the anti-trust division of the Texas Attorney General’s office into pricing practices for ebooks immediately following Apple’s entry into the marketplace, a New York-based antitrust lawyer told us knowingly that other states were conducting similar inquiries but declined to provide any specifics. Now Bloomberg reports that at least one other player is Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal’s office, saying “the information was disclosed in an e-mailed statement.” The news service says they are “investigating agreements between the country’s largest e-book publishers and Amazon.com and Apple that may block competitors […]