By a 6 to 2 vote, the Supreme Court upheld a 1994 law extending copyright protection in the US to works under copyright in other countries that are part of the Berne Convention, in the case Golan v. Holder. The challenge was brought by a group of orchestra conductors, musicians, and publishers who lost access to works that had been in the public domain and went back under copyright after the law was passed. The law in question “mainly applies to works first published abroad between 1923 and 1989.” Congress was essentially required by the World Trade Organization to amend […]
Legal
If This Story Is Right It Shows How Weak the Agency Lawsuits and Investigations Are
Washington antitrust attorney and former Justice Department lawyer Andre Barlow indicates to paidContent that in Justice’s current investigation “the main issue at stake is Apple and the publishers’ use of so-called ‘most favored nation’ clauses to set pricing.” Similarly, as they note, lead class action attorney Steve Berman writes, “The mfn clauses are significant restraints of trade and part of the anticompetitive acts we will attack.” Yet, as the article notes, “‘most favored nation’ clauses are not illegal, and are used in a variety of industries such as medical services.” Even Barlow “says that the clauses by themselves are not […]
Corporate News: AllRecipes.com Bidders; Harper’s Building Sold; Qatar Boosts Lagardere Stake; and More
Random House is reportedly among the bidders for Reader’s Digest’s successful AllRecipes.com unit, as is Amazon, according to the NY Post, with the auction expected to end soon. Other bidders according to the report include Meredith, which had tried the acquire the property earlier, and Scripps Interactive, which owns the Food Network. NYP Also from Random House, the publisher notes that the week before Christmas, the Illinois Supreme Court dismissed a class action lawsuit against the publisher and former author Timothy Ferriss. The plaintiffs took issue with “bonus material” in THE 4-HOUR BODY that was originally accessible only with a […]
Harper Sues Open Road for Infringement Over “Julie of the Wolves” eBook
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 […]
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 […]