Legal

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 […]

A libel claim against a UK journalist has been dismissed, the BBC reports. Tom Burgis’s 2020 book Kleptopia “follows the dirty money that is flooding the global economy, emboldening dictators, and poisoning democracies.” Kazakhstan-based mining company Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation (ENRC) claimed Burgis defamed the company “because the real meaning of part of his book was that the company had three men murdered to protect its business interests,” according to the BBC. Judge Justice Nicklin read the book before the proceedings and determined that the case would not to go trial because “every reader would know that only individuals can […]

Valancourt Books has been challenging the requirement to deposit two copies of every copyrighted work with the Library of Congress as an unconstitutional taking of private property for a number of years now. Last July Washington, DC District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson granted summary judgment against the publisher, and Valancourt is appealing the decision. The AAP has just filed an amicus brief with the court in support of Valancourt. They argue Judge Jackson was fundamentally wrong in concluding, “Publishers are not required to make the deposit in order to print books or to sell them; the obligation is a […]

District Court of Maryland Judge Deborah L. Boardman delivered a quick, clear and commanding opinion on Wednesday providing a directive to the state of Maryland and a warning guideline to other state legislatures looking to impose conditions on how publishers choose to exercise their Federally granted copyrights: She imposed a preliminary injunction blocking implementation of Maryland’s law, and said it is likely pre-empted by Federal law. Judge Boardman reaffirmed the supremacy of Congress and its specific actions as well as any inaction: “It is clear from the text and history of the Copyright Act that the balance of rights and […]

The planned mediation between former Foundry partners Peter McGuigan and Yfat Reiss Gendell was postponed “due to personal issues” of McGuigan’s counsel, and is now scheduled for March 9. As a result, the previously planned court conference date has been cancelled, and a new date will be set “after the mediation has been conducted, and if the mediation fails to resolve this case.”