Legal

In the long-running publisher lawsuit against the Internet Archive for copyright infringement, both sides submitted motions seeking summary judgement to the court on Thursday night, supplemented by extensive witness declarations. While summary judgment for either side is unlikely, the documents provide an updated look at the case, a little more than two years after it was initiated. And formal arguments before Judge John Koeltl won’t happen until the fall, so any ruling on this early stage of the movement to trial will not occur for some time. (Our apologies in advance for any incompleteness today; the filed documents comprise many […]

Barnes & Noble, Bloomsbury and Sarah J. Maas, and Oni Press and Maia Kobabe have filed motions to dismiss the case that alleges A Court of Mist and Fury and Gender Queer are “obscene for unrestricted viewing by minors,” the Virginian-Pilot reports. Barnes & Noble states that the court cannot restrict access to minors “while allowing adults unrestricted access.” While the original petition references excerpts from the books, the authors and publishers say that the books as a whole are not obscene “under state and constitutional law.” They also argue that the petition should be dismissed because the books have […]

Federal Judge Deborah L. Boardman finalized her order granting declaratory judgment in favor of the AAP, declaring the state of Maryland’s library ebook lending “unconstitutional and unenforceable because it conflicts with and is preempted by the Copyright Act…. The Maryland Act is unconstitutional and unenforceable.” At the same time, Judge Boardman found that “such declaratory relief obviates the need for a permanent injunction” in addition, even though the AAP had argued for that additional measure. The order follows the judge’s quick imposition of a temporary injunction blocking the Maryland law in February. In her reasoning, Judge Boardman agreed with the […]