As Endeavor starts informing roughly a third of its staff about who is fired, furloughed and/or set for working half-time, the company is also looking to raise another $250 million in financing to help it through the pandemic, the NY Post reports. In the meantime, Moody’s joined S&P Global Ratings in downgrading Endeavor’s considerable debt load to “negative” since their “liquidity position is projected to deteriorate until the impact of the coronavirus subsides.” In other agency news, California US District Court Judge Andre Birotte Jr. dismissed some of the Writers Guild antitrust claims against the big Hollywood agencies in the […]
Legal
Ninth Circuit Appeals Court to Review Fair Use In Star Trek-Seuss Mashup; Supreme Court Invalidates Copyright On Legal Annotations
Dr. Seuss Enterprises has now argued before a Federal Ninth Circuit Appeals Court its claim that a Star-Trek themed version of graduation-gift favorite Oh, the Places You’ll Go! violates its copyright. Last year, U.S. District Judge Janis Sammartino had ruled that ComicMix’s Oh, the Places You’ll Boldly Go was fair use. Attorneys from DLA Piper argued the Star Trek book is attempting to serve as a market substitute for the original work, and that previous mash-ups of Seuss’ books, such as the Jim Henson puppet television series “The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss,” have been licensed. ComicMix alleges its book […]
Education Publishers Deny Conspiracy in Motion to Dismiss Anti-Trust Lawsuit
Defendant publishers and booksellers in the antitrust lawsuit brought by a group of independent college bookstores filed a motion on April 24 to dismiss all claims. McGraw-Hill, Cengage, and Pearson, along with Barnes & Noble Education and Follett, argue that selling digital Inclusive Access courseware solely through BN Ed and Follett stores isn’t anti-competitive or a “long-running conspiracy,” as the plaintiffs had alleged in their complaint, filed in January. The reality, the publishers maintain, is that they have legitimately increased competition through their digital offerings, and indie bookstores have failed to keep up. Inclusive Access, they say, is “both procompetitive […]
LSC Communications Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy
As long expected, the book industry’s largest printer LSC Communications filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. (If you didn’t know the reality, you would have breezed by the innocuous sounding press release they issued, “LSC Communications Takes Action to Strengthen Its Liquidity and Improve Its Capital Structure,” which is brimming with unwarranted optimism.) The company has commitments for $100 million in debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing, and says it will continue operating “in the ordinary course” and “intends to pay vendors in full under customary terms for all goods […]
LSC Reported to be Shopping Bankruptcy Financing, As Some Workers Have Virus
As we have reported previously, LSC Communications is expected to file for bankruptcy protection shortly. (According to Bloomberg, they have been working with bankers at Evercore and attorneys at Sullivan & Cromwell.) In the latest indication, earlier this week the WSJ reported on tightening terms in the debtor-in-possession financing market, as lawyers and advisers “say they expect a deluge of debt restructurings and chapter 11 filings due to the massive disruption caused by the novel coronavirus.” DIP financing usually comes with lots of protection and collateral for the lenders, but these uncertain times are “turning what looked like sure bets […]
Influential Senator Tells Internet Archive They Are Acting Outside of the Law
Reaffirming that no serious or informed person believes the Internet Archive’s self-proclaimed “National Emergency Library” is legal, the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on intellectual property, Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, sent a letter to IA founder Brewster Kahle. “I am not aware of any measure under copyright law that permits a user of copyrighted works to unilaterally create an emergency act,” Tillis writes. “Indeed, I am deeply concerned that your ‘Library’ is operating outside of the boundaries of the copyright law that Congress has enacted and alone has jurisdiction to amend.” Tillis notes, “I deeply value […]