On March 1, the Appellate Division of New York State Supreme Court unanimously upheld a 2010 court decision that ruled the Peter Lampack Agency could not collect commissions on a novel by former client Martha Grimes that was an option book on a prior agreement, but whose terms were agreed upon with her publisher Penguin under a separate contract. (For more information on the original case, click here; Grimes and Penguin also recently settled a related suit with respect to legal fees and unpaid royalties as well.) The court said the contracts at issue in the case between Grimes and […]
Legal
Paramount Sues to Block Forthcoming Godfather Prequel
Paramount has filed suit in Manhattan Federal Court against the Mario Puzo estate, seeking an injunction blocking publication of the Godfather prequel THE FAMILY CORLEONE, scheduled for a May 8 release (and currently circulating in galley form). The studio alleges “infringement of copyright and trademark interests,” while acknowledging a standing disagreement with the estate over the right to publish additional Godfather books. The new book, by Ed Falco, is promoted as “based on pages extracted from Mario Puzo’s Godfather screenplays.” Sophie Cottrell at Hachette Book Groug declined to comment on the suit, and said that “Ed Falco’s The Family Corleone […]
Open Road Replies to Harper Lawsuit, As Author Asks to Intervene As Co-Defendant
In a terse reply filed on in the Manhattan District Court Thursday via attorneys Boni & Zack, Open Road has answered HarperCollins’ claims that their ebook of Jean Craighead George’s JULIE OF THE WOLVES infringes Harper’s rights under copyright law. The essence of their reply is that “Open Road admits that the contract grants HarperCollins the right to publish Julie of the Wolves ‘in book form,’ but denies that such grant encompasses the right to publish the work as an e-book.” They deny that “HarperCollins ever intended to publish Julie of the Wolves as an e-book, and it is denied […]
Mortenson Says He’s Protecting All Authors In Looking for Dismissal of Lawsuit; Plaintiffs Point to James Frey Case
Legal filings have been piling up in the case seeking class action status against Greg Mortenson, his co-author, publisher Penguin and the charity that Morteson established. The case for dismissal as argued by Mortenson’s attorneys does not address the substance of the allegations–that his story is fraudulent–but rather focuses on numerous issues of legal standing. They note that they plaintiffs have amended and refiled their claims five times now, continuing to look for different basis on which to sue. The current complaint has 11 causes of action; “earlier versions…including different plaintiffs, were 8, 9, 10 and 13 pages long with […]
eNews: BN Makes Progress In Nook Patent Lawsuit Against Chipmaker; eSales Figures From McAfee, Wilkinson; And More
As part of a separate lawsuit in which Barnes & Noble pre-emptively sued chipmaker LSI to mitigate against accusations that the Nook e-reader line infringed on the company’s patents, Judge Edward Chen of California’s Northern District denied LSI’s motions to dismiss 8 of BN’s defenses, including “non-infringement, invalidity, unenforceability, persecution history estoppel/judicial estoppel, no injunctive relief, license and failure to state a claim.” Chen said BN “had adequately pleaded factual allegations of misconduct by Lucent, LSI’s predecessor, which included failure to disclose rules of standard-setting organizations” and that the conduct could fall under the grounds of unforceability. “Indeed, a contrary […]
ITC Attorney Says BN Did Not Infringe On Microsoft Patents
The International Trade Commission trial in Microsoft’s patent infringement action against Barnes & Noble began in Washington on Monday, with BN scoring a prominent opinion in their favor. ITC attorney Jeffrey Hsu told Bloomberg that “he is recommending that ITC Judge Theodore Essex find there was no violation by Barnes & Noble of three Microsoft patents” in testimony given before evidence was presented at trial. Microsoft, however, believes Hsu’s opinion will be swayed once the trial is underway. The software company said in its original complaint that Amazon has licensed at least one of their patents for the Kindle. If the […]