Nearly a year after Judge Denny Chin was confirmed to the 2nd Circuit Appeals Court, and more than 13 months after his hearing on the Google Book Settlement, he finally ruled. the settlement “is not fair, adequate or reasonable” and is rejected. While Judge Chin outlines a number of concerns, he notes one fundamental change that could make it acceptable: change it from opt-out to opt-in, and Chin says, “I urge the parties to consider revising the ASA accordingly.” Of course that would literally change everything, not only removing the settlement’s attempt to provide a legal and business-driven solution to identifying […]
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Infringe This: Apple Sues Amazon Over “Appstore” Name, While Microsoft Upset at B&N Over Nook OS Invented By Some Other Company
Yesterday provided an almost embarrassing wealth of stories highlighting how sensitive technology companies can be about supposed infringement – especially when what’s vexing them the most involves another company not involved in legal action at all. For Apple, the very fact that Amazon named its Android app store, well, “Appstore,” caused enough conniptions for them to file a complaint last Friday in Northern California Federal Court, Bloomberg reports. “Amazon has begun improperly using Apple’s App Store mark in connection with Amazon’s mobile-software developer program,” Apple said in the complaint. They trademarked the term “app store” in July 2008, a move […]
Thriller Writer Barry Eisler Walks Away From Lucrative Print Deal to E-Publish Next John Rain Novel
Two months after thriller writer Barry Eisler moved houses to St. Martin’s Press crime imprint Minotaur Books for his next John Rain novel, The Detachment, he reveals in a lengthy online conversation with his friend and fellow writer Joe Konrath that the deal is off. Instead, Eisler will publish the book on his own around mid-June, far sooner than the Spring 2012 publication date scheduled by Minotaur. “I know it’ll seem crazy to a lot of people,” Eisler states, “but based on what’s happening in the industry, and based on the kind of experience writers…are having in self-publishing, I think […]
eNews: CEO Nourry on Hachette US EBook Sales; Airport E-Bookstores; Android Kindle Speculation
At a conference last week Hachette Livre CEO Arnaud Nourry told Le Figaro that Hachette Book Group USA ebook sales since January “are in line with the national average,” which the AAP reported as comprising approximately 23.5 percent of the total trade in January. Indeed, HBG is one of the 14 publishers who report ebook sales to the AAP to begin with. Le Figaro Some Borders stores in the midst of closing-out sales have discounted the Kobo Wi-Fi reader to $59.99. CNET Taiwan International Airport will open arguably the first airport e-bookstore, which stocks four hundred titles available in ePub […]
Bookselling: California Town on Hook for Rent on Closing Borders Store; Foyles Buys Grant & Cutler; And More
As Borders continues its march through Chapter 11 and additional store closings, the city of Pico Rivera, CA faces a nasty surprise: for the next seven years, they must continue paying a minimum of nearly $11,000 a month in rent on an eight-year-old store Borders will shut by the end of April. That’s because Pico Rivera, with a population of approximately 65,000, was thought to be too small to support a Borders store, causing the government to cut a deal with Borders and its landlord, Vestar Development Center, to spend $1.6 million in federal grant money and subsidize the rent […]
‘The Murder Room’ Author Capuzzo and Penguin Sued for Libel
Journalist Michael Capuzzo’s true crime book The Murder Room, about the inner workings of the Vidocq Society and published last August, is now under scrutiny in New Jersey District Court. Joan Crescenz quietly filed a libel lawsuit in January against Capuzzo and his publisher, Penguin imprint Gotham. At issue is the way in which Capuzzo characterized the relationship between one of his main subjects, the forensic sculptor Frank Bender, and Crescenz, his secretary for more than two decades. The book claims the relationship was sexual, and uses her name twelve times in the process of discussing the purported affair. Crescenz, […]