Algonquin removed a line from President Obama praising Roy Williams which they intended to run on the jacket of Hard Work: A Life On and Off the Court, after their lawyers concluded “that sitting presidents cannot make commercial endorsements.” The White House confirms to EW, “As a general matter, the White House does not authorize the use of the President’s likeness or words for commercial purposes.” Vintage used an endorsement from Obama on a recent paperback reprint of Joseph O’Neill’s NETHERLAND, though EW says they “did not check with the White House before issuing the stickered edition.”EW
News
Judge Clears Seinfeld On Infringement, But Libel Claim Could Continue
New York District Court Judge Laura Taylor Swain rejected author Missy Chase Lapine’s charges of copyright and trademark infringement against Jessica Seinfeld, and she found the plaintiff’s book dowdy, too. Swain called Lapine’s Sneaky Chef “a dry, rather text-heavy work” and said “the tone of the book is less collegial than it is informative and lecturing,” while terming Seinfeld’s cookbook “bright and cheerful, full of different colors and various patterns…. Deceptively Delicious targets the average busy parent with little to no cooking skill or experience.” But Judge Swain declined to rule on the libel charges against Jerry Seinfeld stemming from […]
Tolkien Trust and Harper UK Settle Lord of the Rings Film Suit
The Tolkien Trust and Harper UK have settled the lawsuit they brought last year against New Line Cinema concerning their share of proceeds from the Lord of the Rings films. “The precise terms of the settlement are confidential,” the statement says. The suit originally asked for “in excess of $150 million in compensatory damages,” based on a claim that original film rights contract gave them 7.5 percent of cross proceeds. But attorney for the Tolkien estate Bonnie Eskenazi tells the WSJ “that demand increased after we got closer to a trial because discovery revealed additional financial impropriety.” Warner Bros. President […]
Briefs
In addition to their preview piece of 25 hot fall titles (see the Automat link below), USA Today tips H.M. Naqvi’s Home Boy, David Small’s Stitches, and Gwen Cooper’s Homer’s Odyssey; A Fearless Feline Tale, Or How I Learned About Love and Life With a Blind Wonder Cat as “sleepers” for the season. Seattle is closing its entire public library ssytem for a week due to budget cuts, which will save approximately $655,000. The city took similar measures in 2002 and 2003 (closing for two weeks each time). “City Librarian Susan Hildreth said this week was chosen because school is […]
Canadian Publisher Kunati Books Has Ceased Operations
Two years after being named Publisher of the Year by ForeWord Magazine, Kunati Books has closed for business. Publisher Derek Armstrong confirmed in a brief telephone conversation this morning that the company has begun winding down its operations and letting authors know of the situation. “It’s an orderly and friendly wind-down,” Armstrong said, who singled out that the difficult economic climate made it a “bad time for business.” He also indicated that further information would be available in a week or so but promised that authors would have the rights to their work revert back fully to them. Cheryl Kaye […]
Dominick Dunne Dies at 83
Dominick Dunne, the former movie producer who found a second career as a bestselling author and true crime correspondent for Vanity Fair, died earlier today at his home in Manhattan after a long battle with bladder cancer. He was 83. At the time of his death he was putting the finishing touches on his new novel Too Much Money, which Crown is scheduled to publish in December. “Crown has lost a great storyteller, chronicler, and friend in Dominick Dunne, with whom we enjoyed a more than twenty-five year association that included five best-selling novels, two collections of essays, and a […]