Legal

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) updated a policy that will make publicly funded research available immediately available to the public for free. The guidance says that federal agencies must implement the policy, “including ending the optional 12-month embargo,” by the end of 2025. Currently, journals are able to hold articles behind a paywall for a year. “This policy will likely yield significant benefits on a number of key priorities for the American people, from environmental justice to cancer breakthroughs, and from game-changing clean energy technologies to protecting civil liberties in an automated world,” the announcement […]

Federal Magistrate Judge Valerie Figueredo has filed a 59-page report, recommending dismissal of the fairly absurd lawsuit filed by class-action specialists Hagens Berman and Sperling & Slater on behalf of a single plaintiff bookseller charging that Amazon and the Big 5 publishers had colluded to grant Amazon better terms and control wholesale book prices. In March 2021, Illinois bookseller Bookends & Beginnings filed suit charging “defendants’ anticompetitive conduct has depressed book sales in the U.S. market.” Last fall, the publishers and Amazon motioned for the case to be dismissed. Judge Figueredo’s analysis, just made public with some modest redactions, urges […]

A judge ruled on Tuesday that former New York governor Andrew Cuomo can keep the $5.1 million book advance he received for his memoir American Crisis–for now. The now-defunct Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE) ordered Cuomo to turn over the advance to the state last December, after it was discovered that he used state employees to work on the book during business hours. Cuomo had previously obtained permission from the commission to use state employees, as long as they worked on the book in their free time. Judge Denise A. Hartman of the State Supreme Court in Albany ruled […]

The AAP notified Judge Deborah L. Boardman that it “does not wish to burden the Court with a request for costs and fees” from the State of Maryland after their thorough drubbing in court. But in a warning to other states still contemplating similarly unconstitutional efforts to encroach on the Copyright Act with respect to terms for ebooks sold or licensed to libraries, the AAP makes clear that its “decision is limited to this case, which involved the first bill of its type passed by a state legislature. AAP expressly reserves all rights, claims, and remedies that may be applicable […]

With the trial on whether to block Penguin Random House’s acquisition of Simon & Schuster set to begin on August 1, the government and the publisher are skirmishing on multiple fronts with motions arguing over what evidence can be presented at trial. Since nearly all of the discovery and trial preparation has happened under seal, these filings from the past week or so provide the first public glimpses of the case as it has evolved. One set of papers debates whether PRH’s announced pledge to “treat Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster imprints as external parties in auctions for […]

In late June, US District Court Judge Colleen McMahon agreed to postpone once again last week’s scheduled status conference in the prosecution of accused manuscript thief Filippo Bernardini. The prosecutors told the judge that they are reviewing “a deferred prosecution request” from Bernardini’s counsel. Judge McMahon adjourned the case until September 10, “to facilitate discussions concerning a pre-trial disposition.” A deferred prosecution agreement (commonly called a DPA) is essentially an informal type of probation. The case is deferred by the judge, while the defendant fulfills specified supervision and commitments (which can include fines or penalties). If the terms and conditions […]