Defunct ebook retailers BooksOnBoard and Diesel Books lost again in court, as the Second Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court ruling dismissing their lawsuit alleging that publishers’ introduction of the agency model for ebook pricing put them out of business. The Appeals Court wrote: “Based on the undisputed facts in the record, the district court determined that BooksOnBoard faced strong competition from large retailers, that it contemporaneously viewed the adoption of agency pricing as a boon, and that its subsequent demise was not attributable to the unlawful conspiracy. We have carefully reviewed the summary judgment record, and we […]
Legal
Milo Does File Suit Against Simon & Schuster for Breach of Contract
As promised and boasted, Milo Yiannopoulos filed suit against Simon & Schuster in New York Supreme Court on Friday, alleging “willful and opportunistic breach of its contract.” He says in the filing that the publisher “wrongfully, and in bad faith, terminated the contract with Yiannopoulos in violation of its terms and cancelled Dangerous under pressure from authors, bookselling accounts, business and special-interest groups, celebrities, and various other self-appointed censors who disagreed with views expressed by Yiannopoulos.” The suit seeks minimum damages of $10 million. He claims in the suit that the cancellation of his book contract “caused irreparable harm to […]
Legal: Elsevier Prevails Over Sci-Hub; Textbook Publishers Sue Follett for “Trafficking In Counterfeit Textbooks”
On Tuesday, a Federal court for the Southern District of New York entered a default judgment in favor of Elsevier in their infringement suit against Sci-Hub, the Library Genesis Project, and other websites, accused of “compromising some 51 million protected works.” The court award the maximum damages of $15 million, and made permanent a 2015 preliminary injunction requiring the suspension of the defendants U.S.-administered domain names. Separately, also on Tuesday in the same jurisdiction, Cengage, McGraw-Hill and Pearson filed suit against Follett, charging the college bookstore operator with knowingly “trafficking in counterfeit textbooks” at scale. They allege that, “Defendants regularly look to unknown […]
Consumer Deadline — and A Pot of Leftover Money — Looms At Expiration of Apple Settlement Credits
The big Apple-funded pool of up to $400 million in consumer credits as a result of the ebook settlement agreement with the consumer class and state attorneys general began distribution about a year ago — which means that any unused or unclaimed credits will expire at the end of the day on June 24. Many retailers (and media outlets) are providing one last round of notification to customers to “use it or lose it.” But the really interesting question is what will happen next. Unclaimed funds will remain after the deadline expires, and given the size of the original settlement, […]
The Kenyon-Clare Legal Dispute Continues, with Trial Date for 2018
The Bookseller has an update on the long-running legal dispute between Sherrilyn Kenyon and Cassandra Clare, first filed by Kenyon in early 2016, though it seems to come from Clare’s attorney Jon Cahill. What Cahill focuses on is their motion filed Tuesday, pressing Kenyon to produce “evidence of her claims.” He argues that responses provided by Kenyon in May “remain deficient, because…they are little more than a rehash of the allegations in the Amended Complaint.” What the docket also shows, however, is that earlier this week Chief District Court Judge Waverly Crenshaw set a jury trial date of September 11, […]
Harper and Kipnis Oppose Pseudonymous Lawsuit
Attorneys representing HarperCollins and author Laura Kipnis filed their first response to the Jane Doe lawsuit over the publication of Unwanted Advances, alleging public disclosure of private facts that “were not of legitimate public concern,” false light invasion of privacy, defamation, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The defendants responded to a motion by the plaintiff to proceed under a pseudonym, asking the court to deny that request. Arguing “the bar is set quite high for a party to proceed pseudonymously,” the defendants note that the “plaintiff’s identity as the graduate student who filed a Title IX complaint against former […]