Register of Copyrights and director of the US Copyright Office Shira Perlmutter formally responded to US Senate ranking member on the subcommittee on intellectual property Thom Tillis’s request for an analysis of Maryland’s recently-enacted law regulating library lending of ebooks and similar efforts pending on other states. Tillis was clearly looking for confirmation of his inference “that these state legislative efforts would appear to directly conflict with the Copyright Act’s clear language” and “preemption rules that situate copyright law exclusively at the federal level.” Perlmutter concurs, noting, “We conclude that under current precedent, the state laws at issue are likely […]
Legal
Legal: The Next Foundry Fight Is Over Fees
Recent filings show at least part of the cost of the long-running dispute between former Foundry partners Yfat Reiss Gendell and Peter McGuigan: Following a court order that Foundry “advance attorneys’ fees and expenses to Gendell” to defend against the suit brought by McGuigan and Foundry, Gendell’s attorneys at Sher Tremonte submitted bills for “$157,181.49 in fees and expenses through our firm in connection with the defense of this action.” They contend “we have been conservative in identifying the fees for which we are seeking advancement,” omitting “work associated with defendants’ counterclaims [and] their opposition to plaintiffs’ motion to dismiss.” […]
Publishers Push Back on Internet Archive’s Massive Data Request
Last week attorneys defending the Internet Archive in the copyright infringement lawsuit brought by four AAP publishers asked Judge John Koetl for a conference on their request that looks ridiculously expansive on its face. They want the publishers ordered to produce monthly sales for the past decade on all of their books, in granular detail by sales channel, and insist there isn’t “any particular burden in retrieving the information requested.” In their reply, the attorney for the publishers notes that, “Plaintiffs have produced a vast wealth of detailed sales and related financial data concerning the Works in Suit, totaling over […]
Judge Allows Most of Gendell’s Counterclaims to Proceed
New York State Supreme Court Judge Joel Cohen ruled on Wednesday that all but one of agent Yfat Reiss Gendell’s counterclaims against agent Peter McGuigan can move forward, rejecting McGuigan’s motion to dismiss. Most significantly, the judge ordered what is left of Foundry to “advance attorneys’ fees and expenses to Gendell.” The original counterclaim suggested that amount was already at least $150,000, which will be yet another strain on the resources of Foundry. Judge Cohen found sufficient grounds to let stand the counterclaims of defamation, tortious interference and breach of contract, dismissing only the claim of prima facie tort (which “courts […]
FTC Makes Second Request In Review of ProQuest Sale to Clarivate
On July 28 the Federal Trade Commission made a second request for information in their review of Clarivate’s pending $5.3 billion acquisition of ProQuest. Clarivate announced that as a result, the parties extended the outside date for completion of the deal to December 31. Both Clarivate and ProQuest “each have the option to extend the new outside date to April 29, 2022.” As we noted previously, second requests are generally issued for only 2 to 4 percent of Hart-Scott-Rodino transactions — and as law firm Winston & Strawn advised, “most Second Requests result in a settlement, litigation to block the transaction, or […]
Legal: Fairstein’s Defamation Claims Go Forward
US District Judge Kevin Castel in New York’s Southern District declared that Linda Fairstein has plausibly alleged instances of defamation in the 2019 Netflix series “When They See Us” and will allow the lawsuit to proceed. The judge will also allow defamation claims against director Ava DuVernay and writer and producer Attica Locke to proceed, along with civil conspiracy claims, while dismissing some other claims. Reuters