Five former employees of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the Department of Defense, have sued their former employers to contest the government’s prepublication approval requirements. Former intelligence employees are required to submit manuscripts for review and obtain government approval before they can publish, which the plaintiffs call an “unconstitutional censorship regime” that “cannot be squared with the First Amendment,” according to the complaint, filed in Federal District Court in Maryland. The suit declares itself “a challenge to a far-reaching system of prior restraints that suppresses a broad swath of constitutionally protected speech, […]
Legal
Legal: Netflix Claims Fair Use In Arguing for Dismissal of Chooseco Suit, and More Updates
Netflix replied to Chooseco’s lawsuit from early January alleging that the interactive film Black Mirror: Bandersnatch infringed on the Choose Your Own Adventure trademark. The streaming service says that Chooseco’s argued infringements are minor in of and themselves, not “anywhere near sufficient to state a claim,” and therefore should be dismissed. Netflix argues that Bandersnatch “explores the Choose Your Own Adventure idea,” which makes it “descriptive fair use,” and at the same time suggest it might be satire and/or commentary as well, which would be protected. “One of Bandersnatch’s clear purposes is to comment on, and darkly satirize, the familiar […]
People, Awards, Etc.
At St. Martin’s, Joe Goldschein has been promoted to senior director, marketing & sales operations; Kim Ludlam to director, creative services; Martin Quinn to associate director, marketing; Marissa Sangiacomo to senior marketing manager; Erik Platt to senior manager, digital advertising operations; Danielle Prielipp to senior marketing manager; Joe Brosnan to senior marketing manager; DJ DeSmyter to marketing manager; and Dylan Helstien to assistant manager, advertising operations. Paddy Laidley, executive vice president and head of Raincoast Books, will retire on May 31. Current vice president of sales Peter MacDougall will succeed her. Laidley joined Raincoast in 1994 as sales manager and […]
PEN America and the Authors Guild Stand Against Quad/LSC Merger
Monopoly watchdog group the Open Markets Institute has filed a brief, signed jointly by PEN America and the Authors Guild, encouraging the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division “to block the merger between the two sole competitors in the long-run magazine and book printing markets,” Quad and LSC Communications. In October, Quad (formerly Quad Graphics) announced a deal to acquire LSC, and in February secured the credit to finance the $1.4 billion deal. The deal requires regulatory approval and is currently under review. Open Market’s March 6 letter argues that Quad and LSC represent the only two options for the printing […]
People, Etc.
Jan Baumer has joined Folio Literary Management as an agent. She was formerly acquisitions editor at Harper One. Tara Schlesinger has joined Gallery as senior digital marketing manager. She was previously a digital marketing and publicity specialist at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Awards A 13-title Booker International longlist was announced, with the actual nominations to be released on April 9. The London Book Fair International Excellence Awards were presented across 18 categories. The Academy of Arts and Letters is presenting awards in literature to 17 writers this year. Among them: Lydia Millet gets an award of merit; Robert Alter, Marilyn Chin, Chris […]
Amazon Blinks, A Little
Under political pressure, Amazon is now giving third-party merchants on its US site the same break they provided to European merchants way back in 2013: The company has dropped price parity or most favored nations conditions that blocked sellers from offering their goods at lower prices on other websites. Amazon confirmed the change, without making any statement about it. Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal had written to the Assistant Attorney General for the Anti-Trust Division about this very issue last December. On Monday, Blumenthal commented, “Amazon’s wise and welcome decision comes only after aggressive advocacy and attention that compelled Amazon to […]