Legal

After the state of Maryland’s law attempting to regulate the licensing of ebooks to libraries was quickly found unconstitutional by District Court Judge Deborah L. Boardman, the plaintiff AAP is asking the judge to ensure the endurance of her ruling with a permanent injunction. Earlier in the month Maryland’s state attorney general had requested that Judge Boardman issue declaratory judgment for the AAP without issuing a permanent injunction, looking to avoid “having to invoke the Court’s ongoing jurisdiction over the State’s compliance” (and, perhaps, trying to leave some wiggle room for future legislation). Maryland had argued that it did not […]

The state of Maryland has replied to Judge Deborah L. Boardman’s order “to show cause why the preliminary injunction” blocking their unconstitutional library digital lending law “should not be converted to a permanent injunction.” Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh concedes the loss and does not offer any new evidence, noting, “The State acknowledges that there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and that the Court may grant or deny further relief in this matter without a further hearing or trial.” Instead he reaches for a final sliver, asking the judge to issue declaratory judgment in the AAP’s […]

The state of Maryland did not file an appeal of District Court of Maryland Judge Deborah L. Boardman’s clear and forceful imposition of a preliminary injunction in February blocking implementation of the state’s library ebook lending law. In that ruling the judge found that the plaintiff AAP “will likely succeed on its claim that [Maryland’s law] is preempted by the Copyright Act.” In a March 28 letter, Judge Boardman ordered the state “to show cause by April 11, 2022, why the preliminary injunction should not be converted to a permanent injunction.” Maryland needs to come up with a new argument […]

Senators Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) introduced the Strengthening Measures to Advance Rights Technologies Copyright Act of 2022, or SMART Copyright Act. The legislation “would hold tech accountable by developing effective, widely-available measures to combat copyright theft,” a release states. Currently, the law states that internet service providers and content-sharing companies like YouTube don’t have to pay for copyright theft on their platforms if they “worked with copyright owners to create effective standardized technical measures (STMs) to identify and protect against distribution of stolen content.” To date, no STMs exist. The proposed act would allow for flexibility in creating […]

The Authors Guild compiled an advice page for authors and agents who receive demands from the Department of Justice, Penguin Random House and/or Simon & Schuster attorneys to produce documents about their book deals related to the antitrust lawsuit against the merger. The Guild recommends that agents retain an attorney. For authors, they stress that information submitted to the DOJ and outside attorneys should remain “highly confidential” and not be shared with in-house attorneys or editors. “There is a Protective Order already in place in the case that will ensure confidentiality regarding any information your agent might provide about you […]