At a bankruptcy court hearing on Wednesday, Nicholas Callaway continued to blame other people for his business failure, especially the one entity that was willing to loan him money. Bloomberg reports, “Getting loans from banks or other traditional lenders after the pandemic was difficult, Callaway said. The publisher borrowed $2 million from a foundation, but the loan included onerous terms that contributed to the bankruptcy filing, including a $1 million premium and penalties, he said.” The most recent court filings show a secured lien from the Hoffen Family Foundation, for $1.034 million. Callaway’s current attorney (multiple former attorneys are creditors) […]
Legal
Judge Dismisses Meyer Infringement Cast
In a California Federal Court, Judge Otis D. Wright II carefully read and compared Stephenie Meyer’s BREAKING DAWN and Jordan Scott’s THE NOCTURNE and dismissed Scott’s case alleging copyright infringement. As Judge Wright summarized, “plaintiff simply argues that the works are similar in three particular respects: the marriage sequence, consummation of the marriage on a beach, and the childbirth.” In comparing the works, he finds that “the plots and themes in the subject books have little in common,” “the settings and characters in the two works are vastly different,” oh and also, “the characters are similarly different.” While both books […]
Cengage Sues Houghton Over College Sale, Saying they Pumped Market with Cheap Books
Cengage Learning filed suit against Houghton Miffln Harcourt in a Manhattan Federal Court, seeking at least $20 million and alleging breach of warranty, misrepresentation and bad faith. They allege that Houghton pumped inexpensive college textbooks to international buyers with “known propensities to redistribute these textbooks back into the U.S. market through unauthorized distribution channels” prior to the sale of the division. They complain that those sales inhibited Cengage’s ability to sell to legitimate international distributors and poisoned the US market as those companies redistributed the cheap copies back into the home market. Cengage claims HMH agreed “to not behave ‘outside […]
Appeals Court Hears Salinger Argument; One Judge Calls New Book "Dismal"
The Second Court of Appeals heard arguments on Thursday in the appeal of Judge Deborah Batts’ pre-publication blocking of Fredrik Colting’s 60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye. Judge Guido Calabresi made it clear that he thought Colting’s book was a “rather dismal piece of work if I may say so.” Calabresi did question Salinger’s attorney as to “whether the lower court judge might need to hear more evidence because the case relates to the First Amendment.”AP
Legal News: No Steinbeck Appeal; Larsson Estate Fight; Judge to Decide on TrumpNation Trial
Yesterday the Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from John Steinbeck’s son Thomas and grandson Blake Smyle of last year’s Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that left control of the author’s copyrights with his widow Elaine and publisher Penguin under the terms of a 1994 agreement. In a statement, Thomas Steinbeck expressed “profound disappointment,” adding that “the Supreme Court could have protected all the authors and artists in America from a future of intellectual bondage to big corporate publishers.” He insists the denial does “not mean that the Second Circuit was correct, it only means that the Supreme […]
Discovery Sues Amazon, Saying Kindle Infringes Patent
Discovery Communications filed a patent suit against Amazon.com in Federal court in Delaware, alleging that the Kindle and the ways in which Amazon sells and delivers documents to the device infringes a patent filed for in 1999 and awarded in November 2007 for an “Electronic Book Security and Copyright Protection System.” Discovery general counsel Joseph A. LaSala, Jr. says in the announcement, “The Kindle and Kindle 2 are important and popular content delivery systems. We believe they infringe our intellectual property rights, and that we are entitled to fair compensation.” A Discovery spokesperson underscores that they do not want an […]