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A New Balance of Power: After the Google Book Settlement
In a wide-ranging webinar discussion on May 10, "What Comes After the Google Book Settlement," a panel of experts said they expected some adjusted form of the settlement to emerge from Judge Denny Chin's rejection of the book settlement on March 22.
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GSU E-Reserves Trial To Begin Next Week
Despite a flurry of last-minute briefs, as of today the most significant copyright trial since the Kinko's coursepack litigation, Cambridge University Press et al v. Patton et al, is still on track to begin on Monday, May 16. The case revolves around the practice known as electronic reserves at Georgia State University. And while initial reports have characterized publishers as facing a difficult road, a pre-trial memorandum filed by publishers' attorneys on April 29 outlines a case that could be stronger than previously thought.
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Publishers Weekly, Digital Book World to Host May 10 WEBinar on the Google Settlement
After years of debate and discussion, on March 22 Judge Denny Chin rejected the Google Book Settlement, an unprecedented class action deal that held major ramifications for the publishing industry. What does the settlement’s failure now hold for the future of books, and the industry? Join us on May 10 at 1 PM EST / 11 AM PST for a timely, free WEBcast that will recap the settlement’s long and winding legal path to date, and look ahead to what comes next, not just for the parties, who are said to be working on a scaled-back, revised settlement proposal, but for a wide range of stakeholders, including authors, and librarians.
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Google Status Conference is Delayed
The book world was scheduled to get a little better sense of what was next for the Google Settlement later today as the parties were scheduled to gather in judge Denny Chin’s courtroom at 4:30 pm for a court-ordered status conference. But that conference has now been postponed until June 1.
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Judge Sets Trial Date in Georgia State University E-Reserves Lawsuit
Buried beneath the news of the Google Settlement’s rejection last week, a federal judge in Georgia has paved the way for publishers to go to trial in a contentious copyright case involving e-reserve practices at Georgia State University. On March 17, Judge Orinda Evans denied a GSU motion to dismiss the final count in the suit, setting May 16th as a trial date. The order comes after Evans denied all three of the publishers’ motions for summary judgment, while granting two of three GSU motions to dismiss, in October, 2010. She allowed the action to proceed on a single, more narrowly drawn charge of contributory infringement.
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The Google Settlement Rejection: What Comes Next?
When it was introduced in 2008, the Google Book Settlement was hailed by its creators as historic. Now, it is history. On March 22, after more than two years of contentious debate, Judge Denny Chin rejected the controversial proposal on copyright and antitrust grounds.
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After Rejection, a Rocky Road For Google Settlement
In the hours after Judge Denny Chin rejected the proposed Google Book Settlement, publishers and the Authors Guild said they were open to narrowing the scope of the proposed settlement in order to get a revised deal approved, while Google said it “would consider its options.”
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U.S. Supreme Court Takes On Landmark Fair Use Case
Can foreign works that have passed into the public domain in the U.S. be withdrawn by Congress and put back under copyright protection? That question will be addressed by the U.S. Supreme Court, which this week granted a writ of certiorari in a case, Golan v. Holder, that questions the constitutionality of a federal statute that restored copyright protection to thousands of foreign works, including symphonies by Shostakovich and Stravinsky, books by Virginia Woolf, artwork by Picasso, and films by Fellini and Hitchcock.
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Former U.S. Register of Copyrights Marybeth Peters Joins CCC Board of Directors
Officials at the Copyright Clearance Center today confirmed that Marybeth Peters, who recently retired after 17 years as U.S. Register of Copyrights, has joined its board of directors. After becoming United States Register of Copyrights in 1994 and guiding the agency through the advent of the digital era, Peters retired last December.
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With 4-4 Split, Impact of Supreme Court Copyright Case Is Blunted
In a 4-4 split, the Supreme Court this week upheld a lower court ruling in a copyright case, Costco Wholesale Corporation v. Omega, S.A, that could have held major implications for the book business—even though the case doesn’t involve books. With newly appointed Justice Elena Kagan abstaining because of prior involvement, the case, which was expected to set a major precedent for the sale of so-called "gray market" goods, including books, is a legal wash for interested observers, including publishers, libraries, and consumers, as split decisions from the Supreme Court hold no legal precedent.
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'NYLS Law Review' Publishes Issue Dedicated to Google Settlement
Monday Google launched Google eBooks, its ambitious e-bookselling venture, but now nearly 10 months since its February approval hearing, the Google Book Settlement, the search giant's other major book project, remains in legal limbo. That of course, could change any time with a ruling by the court—and when it does, The New York Law School Law Review will have perhaps the most comprehensive analysis of the legal issues at work, publishing a full issue dedicated to the settlement.
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German Court Upholds Fines Against Rapidshare
A German court has upheld the imposition of fines in excess of 150,000 euros ($197,325) against file holding site Rapidshare and its principals that the court had imposed for violating the injunction it issued earlier this year. The injunction was obtained in February 2010 by Bedford, Freeman and Worth Publishing Group, LLC, a subsidiary of Macmillan; Cengage Learning Inc.; Elsevier Inc.; John Wiley & Sons, Inc.; The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.; and Pearson Education, Inc.
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Libraries Urge CCC to Reconsider its Funding of E-Reserve Copyright Case
A contentious copyright case over e-reserves in university libraries has grown a little more tense. PW has learned that the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) has sent a letter to the Copyright Clearance Center protesting its role in funding an ongoing publisher lawsuit against four individuals at Georgia State University over the use of electronic course content, and urging the CCC to “reconsider its role in funding the litigation going forward.”
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Publishers, Libraries & Booksellers Await Supreme Court Decision in Key Copyright Case
The Supreme Court this week heard oral arguments in a copyright case that publishers say holds major implications for their businesses, even though the case doesn't involve books. The court will decide whether retail giant Costco can re-sell foreign-made Omega wristwatches exclusively licensed for sale abroad in the U.S. market. But wristwatches aside, the copyright case holds larger implications for the publishing industry as it could also apply to the sale and importation of foreign-made editions.
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Judge in GSU E-Reserves Case Limits Scope of Trial
A Federal Court in Atlanta has ruled that the contentious copyright case involving e-reserve practices at Georgia State University will go forward, but only on one narrowly drawn claim of contributory infringement. On October 1, Judge Orinda Evans denied all three of the publishers' motions for summary judgment, while granting two of three GSU motions, effectively ending the defendants' exposure for direct and vicarious infringement. The court gave the parties 20 days to come up with a schedule for proceeding to or, perhaps, to settle.
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New Attributor Study Tracks Demand for Pirated E-Books
Digital content monitoring company Attributor is out with another survey gauging the amount of book piracy that lurks on the Internet. Unlike its earlier study that looked to put a figure on how much book piracy is occurring, the new report attempts to measure the demand for pirated books. And accompanying the report, Attributor announced that it is launching a consumer awareness campaign aimed at educating consumers about the importance of downloading legal copies of e-books.
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CCC to Expand Presence in Europe with RightsDirect
The Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) this week announced the opening of a European subsidiary, RightsDirect. Like the CCC does for clients in America, RightsDirect will offer rightsholders and users in Europe a voluntary licensing system including the rights to share content worldwide from millions of information sources.
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Digital Royalties: Random House Sets 40% Bar for Some Titles
When Random House and the Wylie Agency released a joint statement last week stating that the two parties had “resolved their differences” regarding the 13 titles by Random House authors included in Odyssey Editions, the headlines immediately began touting which party had “won” and “lost” this particular battle.
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Will Google's Net Neutrality Shift Complicate the Book Settlement?
With the Google book Settlement still pending approval in Judge Denny Chin's court, observers say that a shift last week in Google's stance on the issue of "net neutrality" raises new questions about the deal.
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