Priyanka Krishnan, formerly at Harper Voyager, has joined Orbit as editor. Bradley Englert has been promoted to editor. At Penguin Random House Canada, Beth Lockley is promoted to the new position of vp, marketing and communications, overseeing a combined marketing and publicity team and reporting to chief operating officer Robert Wheaton. Longtime executive Tracey Turriff, who has been vp, publicity and svp, corporate communications, is leaving as a result, after 22 years with the company. (Both Lockley and Turriff had once reported to now-retired ceo Brad Martin.) Josh Glover has been promoted to director, publicity. The August pick for the PBS […]
Legal
Judge Dismisses Copyright Infringement Lawsuit Against Harbach’s THE ART OF FIELDING
A copyright infringement lawsuit filed against THE ART OF FIELDING author Chad Harbach by Charles Green has been dismissed. Green’s suit, filed last year, claimed Harbach pilfered portions of his unpublished novel BUCKY’S 9TH. But in a 13-page order, Southern District of New York federal judge Alvin Hellerstein ruled that any similarities between the two novels “were trivial details…not copyrightable abstract ideas, or, when understood in context, not actually similar.” While “both works are about a struggling Division III baseball college team, and both works track the baseball team’s changed fortunes after the arrival of a new player…that is the […]
People, Etc.
Longtime Washington Post Book World editor Ron Charles is transitioning into a “redefined job” at the paper. He writes: “No more editing! From now on, I just get to write about books for the paper. After assigning and editing reviews every day for more than 20 years, I feel like that old tiger finally released from his cage who just keeps walking back and forth where the bars used to be. . . . Friends tell me I’ll get the hang of it.” Succeeding Charles as Book World editor is Stephanie Merry, who was previously a culture reporter for the […]
Judge Dismisses Copyright Infringement Lawsuit Against Emma Cline
A California Federal court dismissed competing lawsuits by THE GIRLS author Emma Cline filed last November against her ex-boyfriend, Chaz Reetz-Laiolo, and his suit against her and Random House alleging copyright infringement. However, in granting and denying a flurry of motions to dismiss by both sides, Judge William Orrick left it open for amended infringement suits to be revived at a later date. Orrick’s 60-page order, issued June 28, dismissed a number of Chaz Reetz-Laiolo’s claims with prejudice, characterizing the litigation as “grist for its own novel” with allegations of sexual assault, plagiarism, keylogging, and infringement. Judge Orrick dismissed the […]
Supreme Court Changes Internet Tax Landscape, Ruling States Can Collect Sales Tax from Many Online Sellers
By a 5-4 vote the Supreme Court overturned the precedent from Quill Corp. v. North Dakota in 1992 that effectively left internet companies with no physical presence in a state exempt from collecting sales taxes. The Court took the case, South Dakota v. Wayfair, “to reconsider the scope and validity of the physical presence rule mandated by those cases.” Today’s ruling found “the physical presence rule of Quill is unsound and incorrect.” The court notes, with Justice Anthony Kennedy writing the majority opinion, “The physical presence rule has long been criticized as giving out-of-state sellers an advantage. Each year, it […]
Accountant Charged With Embezzling $3.4 Million From Donadio & Olson
A recently unsealed federal criminal complaint revealed that longtime Donadio & Olson accountant Darin Webb was charged earlier this month with embezzling $3.4 million from the literary agency between January 2011 and March 2018. According to the 5-page complaint, Webb, who was employed by Donadio & Olson as their bookkeeper since 2001, “used his position as the Agency’s bookkeeper to transfer more than $3.4 million of funds, belonging to the Agency and the Agency’s clients, from the Agency’s bank accounts to bank accounts that [he] controlled. In order to evade detection of his criminal conduct and carry out his scheme, […]