James Grimmelmann, Professor of Law at New York Law School, has joined Publishers Weekly as a contributing editor for legal affairs. Grimmelmann frequently writes about intellectual property, virtual worlds, search engines, online privacy, and other topics in computer and Internet law, and is considered one of the foremost experts on the Google Settlement and its implications. He holds a J.D. from Yale Law School and an A.B. in computer science from Harvard College. In 2009, along with his students, he created the Public Index Web site, and has been blogging since 2000 at the Laboratorium.
“Since the early days of the Google Settlement, I’ve often turned to James, both as a source, and as a resource for help understanding the myriad ways law and publishing are colliding, and not just in courtrooms, but in the market, and in our culture at large,” said Andrew Richard Albanese, senior writer and feature editor at PW. “As we anticipate no shortage of controversial lawsuits and legislation to come in the digital future, we’re lucky to have James on board to help us makes sense of the issues for our readers.”
Grimmelmann joins recent additions Peter Brantley, Cory Doctorow, and Nancy Pearl on PW’s expanding roster of expert contributing editors. He will post regularly on the Publishers Weekly blog PWxyz, will contribute occasional features and columns, and will provide ongoing expert guidance that will help inform PW’s strong coverage of the publishing world’s legal affairs.
“I was raised in a household that subscribed to Publishers Weekly from before I can remember,” Grimmelmann said. “As a book junkie myself, I couldn't be happier to be on the masthead. We’re living through the biggest shift in publishing since the invention of printing, and the biggest shift in copyright since the invention of copyright. The law is going to play a huge role in how we manage the transition, and I'm looking forward to exploring the terrain where law, technology, culture, and business meet.”
