Google Play Books is in the process of adding 13 countries to the roster of territories where their service is live. Norway, the Netherlands and Colombia have already been added, with Paraguay, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Ecuador, Uruguay, Panama, Honduras, and Dominican Republic coming soon. A Google Plus post announced the new additions prematurely, but they will bring the service up to 55 countries in all. The Authors Guild posted a statement about the Appeals Court ruling in the Hathi Trust case. Despite the defeat, the Guild remains firm that, “We continue to believe that it is fundamentally unfair […]
Legal
Appeals Court Upholds Hathi Trust As Fair Use; Rules Authors Guild Has No Standing
The Second Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling on Tuesday morning that broadly affirms District Court Judge Harold Baer’s finding in October 2012 that the Hathi Trust Digital Library — created by academic libraries that participated in the Google Books Library Project — qualifies as “fair use” under copyright law. The Appeals Court upheld the two significant uses of the Hathi Trust: to allow full-text word searches across the entire database of over 10 million books, and to allow verified print-disabled patrons affiliated with a Hathi Trust member institution to access full-text versions. (Note that so far, only the […]
Legal: Judge Cote Says Apple Faces State Civil Penalties, Expresses Sympathy For Separate Case from Small eBook Retailers
On Thursday Judge Denise Cote issued two separate opinions that solidified her stance against Apple and expressed her opinion that the company’s actions also harmed third-party ebook retailers, even as she stressed they may have difficulty proving their case. In a 45-page opinion, Cote ruled Apple should face state civil penalties in addition to the treble damages expected to be awarded after a trial in August 25. She reasoned “the ‘reprehensibility’ of Apple’s participation in the price fixing conspiracy is proportional to the penalties sought” and that “Apple has expressed no recognition that its conduct was wrongful, suggesting a lack […]
Getting Things Straight: Two Wonky But Important Hachette/Settlement Things People Get Wrong
We’ve been doing a lot of talking to other members of the press the last couple of weeks (mostly on background) helping to explain some of the details of the legal issues around ebook pricing — and we’ve been reading a lot of articles, as usual. There are two important errors/misunderstandings, both in press accounts and even among some well-informed industry people, that keep getting repeated as if fact, so we wanted to clear that up for you. 1. One is the idea that “Hachette is up first” according to the court’s schedule for staggered renegotiations of e-book contracts with […]
Apple Damages Trial Delayed Again to August 25 (or Later)
After the Appeals Court denied Apple’s motion for a stay of the ebook damages trial, Judge Denise Cote requested that Apple and the plaintiff states come up with a new schedule that would allow consumers enough time to be notified of the pending litigation (and whether they wish to opt out). The plaintiffs had indicated previously that Apple’s temporary stay and Appeals Court hearing rendered the scheduled July 14 trial date unworkable, but this is the first time the court has indicated a possible new date. As of now, the damages trial will be convened on August 25 at the earliest. According […]
Congressional Committee Hears Testimony On First Sale
As we noted last week, on Monday the House Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet of the House Judiciary Committee came to New York City to hear testimony on the first sale doctrine and the potential reuse of digital files. Sub-committee chair Bob Goodlatte underscored in his opening remarks that: “Although some legal doctrines may be invisible to Americans, the first sale doctrine is not one of them. First sale has been such an integral part of our economy that entire businesses have been built upon it such as Blockbuster video stores and Netflix by mail. Consumer expectations […]