The European Commission formally adopted “commitments” from Amazon to avoid legal charges and potential fines for violating antitrust law with their ebook contracts. Hewing closely to the proposed settlement announced in late January, with some slight modifications, Amazon agrees to drop a broad range of restrictive most-favored-nations clauses in their ebook contracts in Europe for the next 5 years. Notably, the agreement pertains not just to European companies, but “to any e-book in any language distributed by Amazon in the European Economic Area.” EC commissioner in charge of competition policy Margrethe Vestager said in a statement: “Today’s decision will open the way […]
Legal
California Consumer Sues Audible Over Subscription Terms
A California consumer filed suit in the state’s Central District Federal Court against Audible and Amazon, seeking class action status, on behalf of “consumers who find themselves trapped in a shell game.” The suit objects to differences between how Audible allegedly advertises its membership program, and how the program works in fact. (The ads on which part of the case rests are not submitted with the complaint.) The plaintiff says he was promised his audio credits would “never expire” — except that they do expire if and when you cancel. He objects to limitations on how many credits you can accrue and […]
Legal: European Court Disallows Lower Tax for eBooks, Harper Responds In Canada
Responding to a query brought by the Polish Constitutional Court, the European Court of Justice has ruled that member states may not apply a lower value added tax to downloadable ebooks or other publications — even though lower taxes are allowed for books and other publications that are printed (and in turn, even digital books delivered by a physical medium, such as CD-ROM). The Court found that “to accept that the Member States are able to apply a reduced rate of VAT to the supply of digital books electronically, as is permitted for the supply of such books on all physical means of […]
Corporate: HBG Takes Over Perseus Fulfillment, Pearson Faces Suit
Hachette Book Group has officially transitioned the distribution of the acquired Perseus Books imprints from Ingram, which had been handling fulfillment through the Perseus distribution center in Jackson, TN since the sale was completed in April 2016. As of March, all orders for Perseus Books titles will be processed and shipped through HBG. In other corporate news, law firm Robbins Arroyo announced that they filed a class action complaint on behalf of shareholders against Pearson in the US. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The action stems from Pearson’s dramatic lowering of forecasts for the performance of their North American […]
Kate Morton and Former Agent Sue Each Other Over Backlist Commissions
Australian author Kate Morton, author of a number of internationally bestselling novels including The Shifting Fog and The Lake House, and her former agent Selwa Anthony have sued each other over the fate of future commissions from Morton’s backlist. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, which obtained Anthony’s original lawsuit and Morton’s counter-claim, the conflict began when Morton fired Anthony in December 2015 after more than 10 years of representation. Morton then retained Lizzy Kremer at David Higham Associates, to represent new and future works and also to “manage the royalty flow from her backlist.” Anthony sued Morton, claiming the pair […]
Penguin Random House Offers Unlimited Match for Employee Donations to Free Expression, Diversity and Humanitarian Charities
Penguin Random House ceo Markus Dohle wrote to US employees in an internally-posted memo on Tuesday, reacting to the charged moment in American society with a special unlimited matching gift program that will run through the end of February. The company will match employee contributions of any size, without limit, to charitable 501(c)3 organizations devoted to “free expression, diversity, and humanitarian causes.” In a nod to President Trump’s controversial executive order blocking immigration to the US from seven countries, Dohle notes that, “We cannot ever take for granted that a crucial component of our diversity is people coming to publish and […]