The Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement Act was re-introduced in the House of Representatives on Wednesday by sponsor Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and a bipartisan group of representatives. “We hope that the House and Senate Judiciary Committees will swiftly take up this important legislation,” the Association of American Publishers said in a release expressing support. This represents a second chance in the new Congress for a bill that was first introduced in October 2017 and never made it out of the Judiciary committee after hearings last September. The bill aims to make it easier for independent creators to fight copyright infringement […]
Legal
People, Etc.
Craig Popelars is joining Tin House Books as publisher, starting June 1. He was previously associate publisher at Algonquin Books. Win McCormack, current publisher and owner of Tin House Books, says, “Craig Popelars is a powerhouse in the field. He has exactly the kind of vision, energy, and experience needed to take Tin House Books to the next level.” At Penguin Random House Canada, Robert Wheaton expands his role to include strategy, becoming chief strategy and operations officer. He continues to report to ceo Kristin Cochrane. Charidy Johnston moves up to vp, sales, continuing to report to Wheaton. She takes […]
May 16 Deadline Set for Bids to Buy F+W Books
F+W Media’s bankruptcy proceedings this week included a milestone of note: The bid schedules for the sale of F+W Media’s Books and Communities business lines were approved by the court. For Books, the deadline to submit a bid is May 16; if an auction is required, it will be held the morning of May 20 at the offices of F+W’s counsel in Delaware. As previously reported, Greg Miller and Brian Sargenti at Greenhill are overseeing that sale. The process for sale of the Communities business line kicks off two weeks later: Bids are due May 28; an auction, if needed, […]
People, Etc.
Rob Wall has been promoted to art director at Little Bee Books. At Open Road Media, Sarah Mangiola has been promoted to executive editor, content strategy; Carolyn Cox to managing editor content strategy; Catherine Phelan to senior editor; Olivia Mason to audience development manager; Amanda Yee to director of email production; and Amanda Shaffer to senior designer. Eric Meyer has joined as metadata specialist and Mike Wynne as customer acquisition manager for Early Bird Books. Sammy Brown has been promoted to publicist at HMH Children’s. Marissa Page has joined HMH as publicity associate. She previously worked as a journalist. Awards National Book […]
Briefs: Dykstra Sues Over Darling Book, Bertelsmann Restructures Printing Group
Legal Former NY Mets player Lenny Dykstra has sued Ron Darling, his former teammate, as well as his publisher St. Martin’s in New York Supreme Court for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress. At issue is a passage in the just-published 108 Stitches: Loose Threads, Ripping Yarns, and the Darndest Characters from My Time in the Game. According to Darling’s book, Dykstra hurled racist comments at Boston Starter Oil Can Boyd while he warmed up for Game 3 of the 1986 World Series; Darling wrote, “the worst collection of taunts and insults I’d ever heard — worse, I’m betting, […]
Audible to Settle Lawsuit with Up to 12 Million Free Audiobooks
Audible could issue as many as 12 million free audiobooks and reimburse up to 8.4 million customers for overdraft fees to fulfill the settlement terms of two recent class action lawsuits. The plaintiffs in Grant McKee et al. v. Audible, Inc. and Eric Weber and Bryan Rees v. Amazon.com, Inc., and Amazon Services LLC claim that Audible failed to communicate to customers that unredeemed credits are lost when an account cancels, and that gift membership credits expire when the gift membership does. As well, plaintiff McKee argued that the credits are a form of gift certificate, which federal banking laws requires to […]