Chooseco’s lawsuit against Netflix over their interactive film Black Mirror: Bandersnatch has been settled, as the parties informed US District Court Judge William Sessions III on Monday at a status conference. The terms remain confidential, but “the parties did tell the judge of one slightly unusual condition — the judge’s Feb. 2020 opinion denying Netflix’s dismissal motion would have to be vacated.” The judge agreed, and thus “chose to pretend he never questioned whether Netflix’s film was explicitly misleading,” as THR puts it. In February, Judge Sessions had found that the existing facts were insufficient to support dismissal. In particular, he […]
Legal
European Commission Accuses Amazon of Breaching EU Antitrust Rules
Though months later than expected, the European Commission taken another step forward in their antitrust investigations of Amazon, expressing a “preliminary view that it has breached EU antitrust rules,” set out in a statement of objections. At the same time, the EC opened a second antitrust investigation against the etailer. Building on preliminary fact-finding from over a year ago, the EC charges “the abuse of a dominant market position.” They found that Amazon uses “very large quantities” of proprietary data about Marketplace sellers who use their platform in order to compete with them directly. Which is therefore not competition at all, […]
Parneros and Barnes & Noble Settle, Ending Two Years of Litigation
Barnes & Noble and its former CEO Demos Parneros have finally agreed to settle Parneros’ breach of contract lawsuit, filed over two years ago, shortly after he was fired. The move comes just days before the scheduled pre-trial conference. An October 23 letter to the court from BN counsel Jay Cohen was filed October 26, asking the judge to dismiss all remaining claims and counterclaims with prejudice. Each party will bear its own costs and fees, but any other settlement terms — in particular, how much Parneros might be paid from his original claim for severance due of $4 million […]
DOJ Sues Wolkoff for Making First Lady Feel Bad
In the latest sweeping break from norms, the Department of Justice has fully taken over from Trump family personal attorney Charles Harder — who keeps losing every time he tries to intimidate a publisher or author. They filed suit in a Washington, DC District Court against Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, former adviser and friend to the First Lady, alleging violations of one of the flimsy nondisclosure agreements the Trump family favors. The actual charges are breach of contract and breach of fiduciary obligations, related to the publication of her book MELANIA AND ME. The DOJ tries to bring the standard it […]
Congressional Report Documents How Big Tech Has Created Monopolies Reminiscent of “Oil Barons and Railroad Tycoon”
The antitrust subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee issued their long-awaited report documenting the extensive ways in which Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google control, dominate and abuse markets: “To put it simply, companies that once were scrappy, underdog startups that challenged the status quo have become the kinds of monopolies we last saw in the era of oil barons and railroad tycoons. Although these firms have delivered clear benefits to society, the dominance of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google has come at a price. These firms typically run the marketplace while also competing in it—a position that enables them to […]
Judge Rules Government’s Case Against Bolton Will Go Forward
John Bolton’s motion to dismiss the DOJ lawsuit seeking proceeds of his book The Room Where It Happened failed Thursday, with US District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth finding that the government’s position that Bolton breached prepublication review was sufficiently supported by facts. At stake are his $2 million advance and royalties from the bestselling book, which Bolton will have to forfeit to the government if he loses. Next up, Judge Lamberth has said he would rule “expeditiously” on both the government’s motion for summary judgment and Bolton’s motion to delay it. While a summary judgment has a high standard […]