There is yet another twist in the long-running copyright infringement against Georgia State University by Cambridge University Press, Oxford University Press, and SAGE Publications (in which actual costs were shared by the Copyright Clearance Center and the AAP). First brought in 2008, and first ruled on in 2012, on Friday the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals yet again overruled the District Court judge and remanded the case back for further consideration. This is the second time the Appeals court has reversed the lower court’s ruling, in a situation where the original judge clearly wants to favor GSU and the Appeals court […]
Legal
People, Etc.: Moldow to Retire
Susan Moldow, president of Scribner Publishing Group and publisher of Touchstone, is retiring at the end of the year. She has been with Simon & Schuster since 1994, shortly after the Macmillan acquisition. CEO Carolyn Reidy notes, “Her first order of business was to rationalize and reorganize a collection of three disparate adult imprints-Charles Scribner’s Sons, Macmillan and Atheneum-and forge them together as one: Scribner, a single powerful brand that at once acknowledged and cherished the distinguished history and tradition of those diverse imprints, while also signaling a new and contemporary focus that would revitalize and move Scribner forward. And what […]
Corporate: Endeavor Looks to Buy Out Saudi Share, Graywolf Concerned About Elliott Lawsuit
As a corporate connection to Saudi Arabia becomes untenable in the eyes of many, Endeavor Content is now reported to be working on a deal to buyback the $400 million investment made in the talent and entertainment company by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund earlier in the year. “Sources say paperwork is being drawn up that would terminate the deal.” But a Fast Company source indicates “the termination is not yet complete yet as it’s ‘complicated to unwind.'” Harassment Files Graywolf Press, publisher of Stephen Eliott’s books The Adderall Diaries, Happy Baby, and Sometimes I Think About It, issued a statement […]
McCabe’s Book Is Postponed, As FBI Is Accused of Slow-Walking Review
Publication of the forthcoming book from fired deputy director of the FBI Andrew McCabe THE THREAT: How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump has been postponed. St. Martin’s had intended to publish December 4, but has rescheduled the book for February 2019, pending an ongoing pre-publication review of the manuscript by the FBI. McCabe “is accusing his former agency of potentially targeting him unfairly by stalling publication,” ABC reports. “I am disappointed that we have had to substantially delay the publication date for my book because the FBI’s review has taken far longer than they led […]
EU Parliament Vote Moves Controversial Copyright Law Forward
The EU Parliament passed the Copyright Directive, containing two controversial provisions intended to ensure publishers and content creators get paid when their content is shared on internet platforms such as Facebook, Google, and YouTube. While the vote is significant, particularly considering that Parliament rejected a different version in July — it’s far from final. As the Guardian and others report, the law will now go to three-way negotiations with the European Commission and the Council of the European Union. The European Parliament will vote one final time in January. Article 11 (referred to as the “link tax”) allows publishers to […]
What Publishers’ “Morality Clauses” Actually Say, and How Agents Are Reacting
The growing awareness and apparent use of morality clauses in major publisher contracts has been a hot button issue this year — mistakenly treated as if this was a brand new practice. Most of that reporting and discussion has taken place in a partial void, absent an airing of what the actual contractual clauses say. It’s one thing to talk about the idea of morality clauses, but it’s far more important to know what standards and conditions such clauses try to impose, and what remedies they prescribe. So for several months we talked to agents, publishers, and attorneys to uncover […]