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Wiley Goes After Bit Torrent Pirates
John Wiley & Sons filed a copyright infringement suit last week in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York involving 27 “John Does” who the publisher said are illegally copying and distributing its For Dummies books through the use of Bit Torrent file sharing software.
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U.S. Copyright Office Outlines "Priorities and Special Projects"
Orphan works, preservation for libraries, mass digitization, and fighting digital piracy are among the priorities set by the Register of Copyrights Maria A. Pallante this week in a paper outlining the U.S. Copyright Office's "priorities and special projects" for the next two years.
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Authors Guild Files File Amended Complaint Against Libraries
The Authors Guild has filed an amended complaint that expands its suit against university libraries over a book-scanning collaborative known as HathiTrust.
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S&S Signs with Attributor
Simon & Schuster has signed with anti-piracy firm Attributor to help the publisher protect the copyright of its titles online.
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Michael Healy Joining Copyright Clearance Center
With the Google Book Settlement all but dead, another sign that the market is moving on: This morning, the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) confirmed that Michael Healy, former executive director (designate) for the Google Settlement's proposed Book Rights Registry, is joining CCC.
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Peter Brantley: Collective Licensing and Orphan Works in Europe
Olav Stokkmo, president of IFFRO (the International Federation of Reproduction Rights Organizations) suggests that a recent Memorandum of Understanding in the EU could solve the problem of orphan works through collective licensing. But is collective licensing really a solution to the orphan works issue? Peter Brantley weighs in.
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Authors Guild Suit Against Libraries Not Related (Enough) to Keep its Judge
In yet another twist, judge Denny Chin, who is still sitting by designation in the Google Book case, has declined to take the Authors Guild’s recent suit filed against a group of research libraries. The case was referred to Chin as “possibly related,” as the case revolves around fair use and Google’s library book scanning project.
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Google Settlement Parties Pursue Separate Deals
After nearly three years stumping together to get the Google Book Settlement approved, the parties in the scuttled deal are headed for litigation. At a September 15 status conference, attorneys told Judge Chin that talks were progressing raising the likelihood that the authors’ and publishers’ cases would soon be split.
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Authors Guild Sues Libraries
With the Google Book Search Settlement in tatters, its fragile alliance splintering, and the parties now on a pretrial schedule, the Authors Guild last week expanded its infringement claims by suing a consortium of university libraries over a digital library initiative.
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HathiTrust Suspends Its Orphan Works Release
Following the filing of a lawsuit over its scanning and orphan works initiative, HathiTrust this morning said it would suspend indefinitely its plan to release a set of 140 orphan works until is processes for determining copyright status are improved.
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Judge Adopts Trial Schedule At Google Status Conference, but Settlement Talks Continue
The Google Books case is headed to litigation. At a status conference Thursday, Judge Denny Chin adopted a proposed trial schedule that, if followed, would have the case ready for trial by July 2012. But the conference also offered a ray of hope, as attorneys said that settlement talks were progressing
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Authors Guild Sues Libraries Over Scan Plan
With the Google Settlement poised to meet its ultimate demise as early as Thursday, when the parties are scheduled to appear before Judge Denny Chin for a status conference, the Authors Guild yesterday filed a new lawsuit against a consortium of university libraries over a digitization initiative known as HathiTrust.
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Authors Guild Sues University Libraries
With the Google Settlement in tatters, and the case expected to soon head back to litigation, the Authors Guild has announced that it has doubled down on its infringement claims by suing a consortium of university libraries over its digital initiative known as HathiTrust.
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Second Circuit Copyright Ruling Could Affect Libraries
Librarians say their core activities are in question after the Second Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a decision finding that the “First Sale” doctrine in U.S. copyright law—the provision that enables libraries to lend books they’ve purchased—does not apply to works manufactured outside the U.S.
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With the Freelance Settlement Rejected, What's Next?
On August 17, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals sent the parties in the long-running class action suit known shorthand as Freelance back to the drawing board, rejecting an $18 million settlement struck in 2005.
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More Lawsuits Over Agency Model
A class action lawsuit over e-book pricing filed against five major publishers and Apple has begun to sprawl, with four new "copycat" lawsuits filed last week. Two suits, filed in Manhattan, add Random House as a defendant, while a third suit, also in Manhattan, adds Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
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Second Circuit Rejects "Freelance" Settlement
A two-judge panel of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday rejected an $18 million settlement in the long-running class action suit filed by freelance writers following the landmark Tasini case, and in the process have likely killed the chances of a revised settlement in the Google Books case.
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With Final Filings, Parties in GSU E-Reserve Case Await Verdict
The parties in the closely-watched e-reserves trial at Georgia State University have filed what are likely to their final documents, and a verdict by federal judge Orinda Evans could come any day.
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The Breakup: Are the Google Settlement Parties Headed for Splitsville?
Breaking up is hard to do, and for the parties in the Google Books litigation a potentially messy breakup looms. Can these factions make enough progress on a revised settlement agreement in the next six weeks to avoid that fate?
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Citing Wal-Mart, Objector Files Brief Challenging Google Settlement Status
After judge Denny Chin gave the parties in the Google Books litigation until September 15 to come back with a revised settlement, an objector asked the court to drop the class-action status of the suit, based on the Supreme Court's recent ruling in Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. v. Dukes et al.
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