Memorialized in a brief filing with the Federal Court of Wednesday, the Biden administration’s Department of Justice dropped the Trump administration’s witch hunt against former National Security Advisor John Bolton. They dismissed the civil lawsuit looking to recover Bolton’s earnings from publishing THE ROOM WHERE IT HAPPENED without formal, written clearance from the government. And according to Bolton’s lawyer, the government also dropped a grand jury investigation over the book’s publication. Previously, US District Judge Royce C. Lamberth had indicated a strong inclination to support the government’s case, though full evidence had not yet been presented. Earlier this year, Lamberth […]
Legal
Legal
A lawsuit in the UK has revealed that Neil Blair at The Blair Partnership paid his former employer Christopher Little £10 million as a settlement fee in January 2012. The payment came after Blair set up his own agency in 2011 and took over representation of JK Rowling. The filing also indicates that Blair borrowed the money for the lump sum payment from Rowling. The only previous report of the settlement was a Daily Mail account in February 2012, with a statement from statement from reputation and crisis-management firm Project Associates indicating that Rowling and Little “have reached an amicable agreement […]
House Judiciary Introduces Bills that Would Break Up Amazon’s Vertical Publishing Monopoly
Following on their 16-month investigation into the digital marketplace and the “unregulated power wielded by Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google,” the House Judiciary committee introduced five bills that would break up and significant restrict and constrain those tech giants. Each bill is has a Republican co-sponsor and the committee refers to the package as “bipartisan bills drafted by lawmakers on the Antitrust Subcommittee,” but that still doesn’t tell us where the Senate stands. Two bills in particular would bring significant relief to Amazon’s broad dominance of book publishing. The most dramatic bill, which applies only to companies that worth $600 […]
Briefs
Diversity Penguin Random House published their 2020 Social Impact Report, evaluating their “social impact commitment areas” of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion; Environment & Sustainability; and Free Expression & Joy of Reading. CEO Markus Dohle acknowledges in the introduction, “In some areas, we have a long way to go. Change is overdue when it comes to building a publishing industry that’s truly diverse and equitable—from the authors we publish to the employees we hire. We cannot erase the past, but we can—and will—do everything within our power to help build a more equitable and just world through the power of books […]
Legal: Continued Foundry Disagreement, AAP Publishers Sued US Over Tariffs
Both sides have now traded filings in the Foundry Media legal dispute — making clear that Yfat Reiss Gendell and Peter McGuigan have both agreed to the appointment of a temporary receiver over the agency’s, but each party wants the receiver to serve its particular agenda. Gendell wants a receiver authorized to sell Foundry’s assets, and asked the court to send the dispute to mediation. In a new filing, McGuigan states that he expects a receiver “would likely not have any other choice but to sue for, and collect any assets, claims or debts of Foundry,” including the collection of […]
People, Etc.: Dan Frank Dies at 67
Tiffany Liao joins Zando on June 9 as executive editor leading their young readers initiative. She was previously senior editor at Holt Children’s. Alisse Goldsmith-Wissman has joined Convergent as senior publicist. She was previously at Independent Publishers Group in Chicago. Caitlin Morrow has joined the Simon & Schuster special markets sales team as assistant manager. Martha Wydysh has been promoted to literary agent at Trident Media Group. Adam O’Brien has joined Apollo Publishers as an editor. Previously, he was editor at Sterling Publishing. Dan Frank, 67, editorial director of Pantheon since 1996, died on May 24 in Manhattan. Knopf evp […]