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 […]
Legal
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, […]
Briefs: RT Book Reviews Closing, Macmillan’s 175th, and the CBS Lawsuit
Closing Romance book magazine RT Book Reviews, as well as the RT Booklovers Convention, are shutting down effective immediately. Founder Kathryn Falk announced at the latest convention in Reno that she and her husband, co-owner Kevin Rubin are retiring and the Reno convention would be the last. The magazine will not produce any more issues, but will remain available online for a year, at which point it will be removed. Falk writes in a message to readers, “After 38 years, I am retiring and ending my participation in publishing. It was a great privilege to have a lifetime experience in […]
Cengage Authors Sue Over New Subscription Model
Textbooks authors David Knox and Caroline Schacht filed suit in the Southern District of New York against Cengage, alleging that the publisher’s forthcoming Cengage Unlimited subscription model breaks the “fundamental bargain struck” in their publishing agreements, and is designed “for the specific purpose of retaining a greater share of its revenue stream (and therefore reducing author royalty payments).” The plaintiffs seek class action status for their suit. More broadly, they also allege that since emerging from bankruptcy protection in 2014, “Cengage has trampled on its authors’ rights.” They charge that the company has diluted authors’ royalties on courseware packages, by […]
Harper Lee Estate, Scott Rudin Settle Mockingbird Lawsuit
A Broadway production of Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is expected to go forward after Lee’s estate and the play’s producer, Scott Rudin, settled a pair of lawsuits Thursday. The NYT reports that both sides “issued a four sentence statement saying that they had ‘amicably settled’ the litigation, but offering no specifics,” with both parties filing a settlement notice with the Southern District of New York court indicating the suit was “dismissed with prejudice.” As such it remains unclear if there will be changes to Aaron Sorkin’s script or if the production will go ahead as originally intended. The […]