The publishing community is responding with appropriate alarm to the preview of Audible Captions, a forthcoming feature that will show listeners a computer-generated transcription of the text of an audiobook as they listen. A USA Today piece mentioned just three particular in-copyright titles set to be captioned (though it says the feature “will be available on hundreds of thousands of audiobooks at launch”). Two of those are Penguin Random House titles: Michelle Obama’s BECOMING and the late Chester Himes’s A RAGE IN HARLEM (the latter is sold in audio as an Audible Studios production narrated by Samuel L. Jackson). A […]
Legal
Germany Wins Some Marketplace Terms Improvements from Amazon, As EU Investigates Bigger Issues
Germany’s Federal Cartel Office accepted a number of “concessions” from Amazon and closed the “abuse of dominance proceedings” they started last November, while the bigger and more volatile charges have been taken up by the European Commission “to assess whether Amazon’s use of sensitive data from independent retailers who sell on its marketplace is in breach of EU competition rules.” Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said they will “take a very close look at Amazon’s business practices and its dual role as marketplace and retailer.” So far, “Based on the Commission’s preliminary fact-finding, Amazon appears to use competitively sensitive information – about […]
Investor Sues Barnes & Noble Education Over Blocked Board Nominations, Rejected Buyout Offers
Barnes & Noble Education, which has worked hard to perform even more poorly than the Barnes & Noble retail operation since the two split apart almost 4 years ago, now finds itself the focus of its own strange potential sale. Bay Capital Finance, which appears to be focused on real estate development, says it has been trying trying to acquire the company outright since earlier this year. On Monday, they filed suit in Delaware’s Chancery Court, asking for their nominations of five independent directors to the BNED board to be put before shareholders at the annual meeting. Bay Capital says […]
Quad’s Request For Speed Is Denied, Antitrust Trial Set for November
Judge Charles R. Norgle denied Quad’s request for an expedited trial in the DOJ’s antitrust lawsuit against the company’s planned merger with rival printer LSC. Instead, Norgle only slightly modified the Department of Justice’s proposed schedule, setting November 14 as the trial’s start date. That could be delayed, however, as he noted that “there are multiple criminal cases involving incarcerated defendants scheduled for jury trial during the fall of 2019; in the events of a scheduling conflict, these criminal trials may take priority over the bench trial in this matter.” Quad had asked the court to schedule the trial in […]
Quad Asks for Expedited Antitrust Trial to Avoid Breakup Fee
Quad Graphics is concerned that the timing of the Department of Justice’s lawsuit to block their planned merger with LSC Communications will actually kill the deal before it gets to trial. That’s because either Quad or LSC can terminate the merger plan if it does not close by October 31 — and Quad is obligated to pay LSC a $45 million breakup if that happens. They say in a filing from June 26, “Without a prompt hearing, the [Antitrust] Division would block the transaction through delay, rather than allowing the Court an opportunity to evaluate the merits of the Division’s […]
HMH Recalls and Postpones Wolff Book; Lawsuit Shines Harsh Light On Sparks
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is withdrawing the inventory of Naomi Wolf’s OUTRAGES from accounts and has postponed the planned June 18 release. The book was revealed to have some foundational research errors in a BBC interview a couple of weeks ago. The publisher told the NYT, “As we have been working with Naomi Wolf to make corrections to Outrages, new questions have arisen that require more time to explore. We are postponing publication and requesting that all copies be returned from retail accounts while we work to resolve those questions.” Wolf tells the newspaper the recall is contrary to her wishes: […]