Barbara Tavres and Barnes & Noble, which Tavres sued for age discrimination, have agreed on an intention to participate in private mediation through Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Services (JAMS). Together, the parties requested that the court allow them to enter mediation and asked to postpone scheduling for 90 days to continue to explore settlement. According to a separate joint case management statement, “The Parties have been informally sharing information with one another in an effort to explore potentially narrowing the issues and causes of action, and also to explore the possibility of early settlement, and they will continue to do […]
Legal
Judge Pushes Back on Proposed Redactions of Audible Captions Settlement
It turns out Judge Valerie Caproni really meant it when she told Audible and the litigating publishers that the only redaction of their settlement agreement she was inclined to allow was the settlement amount(s). In her new order, filed February 27 after reviewing the proposed redactions, Caproni gave the parties until March 4 to make one of two choices: either “(1) redact only the settlement amount(s) and file the redacted agreement on the public docket, in which case the Court will approve the parties’ proposed injunction order and retain enforcement jurisdiction over the entirety of the settlement agreement, or (2) […]
Netflix Slaps Back At Choose Your Own Adventure
Netflix has answered ChooseCo’s complaint in a Vermont Federal Court, denying all claims that it violated trademark law by referencing the company’s Choose Your Own Adventure brand during its movie Bandersnatch. Further, Netflix claims that ChooseCo’s trademark should be cancelled. “Netflix has been and will continue to be damaged if the registrations of Chooseco’s alleged marks are not cancelled,” says the counterclaim, and because the “marks are generic and incapable of source identification…they cannot qualify for trademark protection.” Netflix asserts that Chooseco failed to protect its trademark, resulting in “Choose your own adventure” having become a generic phrase widely used […]
Apple Tries to Block Just-Released German Book About Their App Store
Apple is inadvertently promoting a book just released in Germany by the former head of their German app store business: APP STORE CONFIDENTIAL, by Tom Sadowski, from Murmann Verlag. (They are a small business publisher, founded in 2004, and seem to do custom publishing as well.) The company’s lawyers reportedly wrote to Sadowski and his publisher to demand that they not “deliver the book” and “recall all copies of the book already in circulation and…destroy all book manuscripts.” Apple says Sadowski “violated his employment” agreement in writing the book and alleges that the book contains “business secrets” that are “of […]
Judge Denies Request to Keep Audible Captions Settlement Secret
Judge Valerie Caproni denied the request to keep sealed the details of the settlement agreement between the seven litigating publishers and Audible in the lawsuit over the Captions initiative. She noted, “The public has a presumptive right to judicial documents” and “in this case, the parties have not demonstrated competing interests sufficient” to go against general practice. That presents the parties with a choice: By February 21, they need to either submit proposed redactions to the judge, or else drop their request for the court to retain jurisdiction over enforcement of the agreement. Judge Caproni warned that, “At this juncture, […]
Court Allows Choose Your Own Adventure Suit Against Netflix to Move Forward
A Vermont Federal Court judge has ruled that a Chooseco’s lawsuit against Netflix for using its Choose Your Own Adventure brand in its interactive film Black Mirror: Bandersnatch can proceed, by denying Netflix’s motion to dismiss. Released in late 2018, Bandersnatch asks viewers to choose which direction the plot takes, and features visual branding and dialogue that explicitly evokes the popular ’80s book series. Netflix is alleged to have originally pursued a license, and then to have gone forward without one. Chooseco sued for $25 million in damages in January 2019, alleging trademark infringement, unfair competition, and dilution of its […]