It was within a block of the West Side’s fragrant horse and carriage stables that Amazon set up tent this morning–literally with a large, air-conditioned tent on the street as a holding pen for press-conference visitors–to introduce their new devices: the Kindle Fire tablet, the new line of Kindle Touch ereaders, and an inexpensive version of its original Kindle model. Bloomberg jumped the gun by about 25 minutes quoting unnamed Amazon executives about the specs, but Wednesday’s press conference made it official: the Kindle Fire Tablet will have a 7″ full-color touchscreen and Wi-Fi, weigh 14.6 ounces, and will retail […]
News
Judge Denies Preliminary Injunction Over Parody of ‘Elf On The Shelf’
On September 22 Georgia District Court Judge Amy Totenberg denied CCA and B’s bid last month, as part of a 19-count lawsuit on copyright and trademark infringement, to stop the October 18 publication of Adams Media’s ELF OFF THE SHELF: A Christmas Tradition Gone Bad, a parody of the bestselling holiday children’s book ELF ON THE SHELF. In denying the permanent injunction, Judge Totenberg ruled that Adams Media’s book met the definition of a parody, that stopping publication of ELF OFF THE SHELF “until a trial on the merits would eliminate this prime time for Defendant’s book marketing” since Adams […]
Former Employee Sues Borders Over Layoff Procedure, and More Bookstore News
On the heels of Borders suing marketing firm Next Jump over trademark infringement now Borders is a defendant in a new complaint related to the company’s layoff procedures post-litigation. Former employee Jared Pinsker, who worked in Borders’ Ann Arbor headquarters, said in a suit filed last Friday in federal bankruptcy court that Borders did not adequately give employees notice when they were let go between July 23 and August 23. Not doing so, per the complaint, violates the WARN Act, which requires employers to give 60 days notice before conducting layoffs of at least 33 percent of a company’s work […]
Chorion Reportedly Close to Bankruptcy After Two Key Executives Resign
Literary brand management company Chorion, which controls the rights to the estates of Agatha Christie, Raymond Chandler and other notable crime writers, along with UK children’s properties like Noddy and Mr. Men, may be forced into administration by its lenders after failing to raise funds, according to a report in the Sunday Times. Though the paper indicated that Deloitte has been retained to oversee a potential bankruptcy “as soon as this week,” the Telegraph quotes a “source close to one of the banks” as indicating that several options were being considered. “Administration is not something we are about to push the […]
Jana Partners Outlines Its Idea of a McGraw-Hill Breakup
Hedge fund Jana Partners, which built a 5.2 percent stake in McGraw-Hill along with the Ontario Teachers Pension Fund, disclosed earlier this month, indicated in an SEC filing on Monday exactly how it would like McGraw-Hill to function going forward. (Their combined holdings in the company also rose to 5.6 percent, according to the new filing.) Specifically, as outlined in a Powerpoint presentation given to McGraw-Hill’s board of directors earlier in the day, Jana wants the company to break itself up into four separate companies: Education, Information & Media, and two entities for S&P and its indices. “While the announcements […]
W. Paul Young Signs With Hachette For Next Book After Settling ‘The Shack’ Lawsuit
Hachette Book Group has signed William Paul Young for an untitled follow up to his multi-million selling novel THE SHACK, for which the publisher’s Faith Words imprint handled marketing, manufacturing, sales and distribution since mid-2008 after the original edition from Windblown Media sold over a million copies. The news comes shortly after Young reached a final settlement agreement with Windblown Media founders Wayne Jacobsen and Brad Cummings on undisclosed terms on August 12, a deal that had been in the works for some time. (Young had alleged accounting improprieties, and Jacobsen and Cummings counter-sued, seeking joint copyright in the book.) […]