Legal

In the copyright infringement case brought against the publishers of KinderGuides — “early learning guides” that essentially adapted classic works of literature for younger readers — Judge Jed Rakoff issued the opinion to explain his finding over a month ago granting summary judgment to the plaintiffs. On August 15, Judge Rakoff issued a permanent injunction to block the sale of the infringing KinderGuides and destroy all remaining inventory. Subsequently, the plaintiffs have withdrawn their request for summary judgment finding that defendants acted willfully, and have further withdrawn with prejudice their claims for statutory damages, “to avoid the time and expense […]

Attorneys for Simon & Schuster updated their motion to dismiss Milo Yiannopoulos’s breach of contract lawsuit, while noting that Milo’s own revision of his complaint was “filed on the eve of the Preliminary Conference.” In their new filing, the publisher more closely binds the $80,000 first advance that Yiannopoulos did not repay along with his acceptance of the reversion of rights to his manuscript, which he subsequently self-published, as constituting his agreement to S&S’s cancellation of the contract. They underscore that Milo’s attorney only rejected the cancellation in writing months later, after he was actively exploiting the publishing rights: “Yiannopoulos accepted […]

Attorneys Louis Tompros and Don Steinberg at WilmerHale, working pro bono, have helped creator Matt Furie save his Pepe the Frog comic character — he publishes with Fantagraphics — from “misappropriation [that] in any way that espouses racism, white supremacy, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, Nazism, or any other form of hate.” In the process, they have quashed the planned release in November by Post Hill Press of the infringing self-published book The Adventures of Pepe and Pede by Eric Hauser. The lawyers say in a press release that Hauser “admitted” to copyright infringement, and they “were able to negotiate [settlement] over the […]

Attorneys for Milo Yiannopoulos responded to Simon & Schuster’s motion to dismiss his lawsuit against the publisher with a revised version of the original complaint. Most relevantly, the new reply pokes at S&S’s contention that after serving their termination letter, the author “accepted the [signing advance] payment without protest, thereby sealing the accord and satisfaction and barring this lawsuit as a matter of centuries-old law.” Yiannopoulos notes the payment was accepted on or about January 18, when “there was no existing dispute between the parties” and could not “be deemed to be in ‘satisfaction’ of any dispute because none then existed.” No new […]

It will come as no great surprise that publishers Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster, along with the estates of Truman Capote, Jack Kerouac, Arthur C. Clarke, and Ernest Hemingway, prevailed in their copyright infringement case brought against Fredrik Colting and Melissa Medina for their KinderGuides books, asserted as “early learning guides” to classic works of literature. On Friday, NY Southern District Federal Judge Jed Rakoff granted summary judgment on all nine counts of copyright infringement, and rejected the defendants’ claim of fair use “as a matter of law.” Somewhat unusually, Judge Rakoff issued a two-page ruling, with “a memorandum […]

Simon & Schuster filed a reply to Milo Yiannopoulos’s breach of contract lawsuit on Friday, telling the court that they terminated his contract “within the unambiguous terms of the publishing agreement” and arguing that by not returning the $80,000 advance paid in January, Milo was agreeing to and accepting their termination. If not, the publisher argues, then under the contract the rights to Milo’s book have not yet reverted to him. By their account, “On February 22, 2017, Simon & Schuster exercised its contractual rights, terminated the agreement, and allowed Yiannopoulos to retain an $80,000 advance that he would otherwise […]