In a lawsuit over the ebook rights to Jean Craighead George’s Julie of the Wolves, HarperCollins argues that its 1971 contract with George included the right to publish ebooks, while Open Road argues that isn’t possible. Read more at paidContent »
A British man has found some sympathy in the courts because Google did not delete false comments about him made on Blogger fast enough. Does his case open a backdoor to internet regulation? Read more »
The U.S. Department of Justice has approved the proposed merger between Random House and Penguin, though it remains under consideration by international antitrust authorities. Read more at paidContent »
Macmillan is paying $20 million to settle the class action and states’ lawsuits remaining against it. Read more at paidContent »
Macmillan, the last remaining publisher holdout in the Department of Justice’s ebook pricing antitrust lawsuit against five publishers and Apple, has decided to settle about ten months after the lawsuit was originally filed. Now Apple is the only remaining party fighting the DOJ lawsuit. Read more at paidContent »
Proposals are in the works to change the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act in the wake of hacker-activist Aaron Swartz’s untimely death, but those changes are important for reasons that go far beyond just Swartz’s suicide. Read more »
Amazon has won a patent to create a virtual marketplace where users could resell digital content like apps, songs and ebooks. But it’s unclear whether such a marketplace would be legal under current copyright law. Read more at paidContent »
Google has come to an agreement with the French publishers who wanted it to pay them for linking to their news content. Google agreed to create a €60 million “Digital Publishing Innovation Fund” and will also help the publishers with ad strategy. Read more at paidContent »
Keith Rabois, the COO of mobile payments startup Square, resigned following accusations of sexual harrassment, the company confirmed Friday. Rabois denied the allegations, describing them as a “shakedown,” and said he left the company to avoid distractions. Read more »
Penguin, which is merging with Random House, has settled with the Department of Justice in the ebook pricing lawsuit, which alleges that Apple and publishers conspired to set ebook prices. Penguin had planned to fight the case in court, but the pending merger has changed that. Read more at paidContent »
Russia’s new internet blacklist agency is busy naming “illegal” sites ISPs must block. But the government says search engines should not be blocked for pointing to those sites with excerpts of illegal content. Read more at paidContent »
Reuters cites two unidentified sources who says that the European Commission has accepted Apple and four publishers’ proposed ebook pricing settlement. As we previously reported, the EU settlement includes Apple, Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, Hachette and Macmillan parent company Holtzbrinck. Macmillan and Apple are not settling in the U.S. Read more at paidContent »
What happens in Belgium doesn’t necessarily stay in Belgium. Now Google News is facing a Brazilian boycott and France is threatening to copy a German-style tax on excerpting its newspapers. What’s an aggregator to do? Read more at paidContent »
Talk about an overreaction. When education publisher Pearson spotted some infringing material on one weblog, its takedown by a host company felled a million more. Pearson apologises, but pokes the host for over-zealousness. Read more at paidContent »
Google has apparently offered to indicate when its search results point to its own properties, in its ongoing negotiations with EC antitrust investigators. But that offer likely doesn’t neutralise the original complaints. Read more at paidContent »
With many ebook buyers set to receive small payments as a result of the $69 million settlement between 49 states and three publishers, the states have slightly modified the way those payments will work. Read more at paidContent »
Apple has become one of dozens of companies being sued by Ameranth over wireless synching software — in Apple’s case, it’s over Passbook. Ameranth is not just your average patent troll, however: it has taken investment from Microsoft and Motorola. Read more »
Google’s video site is already the number-five web service in Turkey. Now it will have to work under the fast-growing country’s laws. But that could mean a big growth opportunity for the service. Read more at paidContent »
New laws make downloading, as well as uploading, content illegally an offence punishable by a prison term and a large fine in Japan, in contrast with the emerging approach elsewhere. Read more at paidContent »
Efforts to extradite alleged piracy mastermind Kim Dotcom to face US charges may be undermined by apparent unlawful bugging used in his New Zealand arrest – the latest flaw in the high-profile case. Read more at paidContent »
A judge has preliminarily approved the states’ $69 million ebook pricing settlement with publishers, but consumers won’t receive any payments until after a hearing is held in February 2013. Payments would range between $0.25 and $1.32 per ebook. Read more at paidContent »
Research claims three billion songs were illegally downloaded via torrent between January and June. The problem may remain large, but it is likely shrinking. Read more at paidContent »
Last week, a federal judge approved the DOJ’s proposed settlement with Simon & Schuster, Hachette and HarperCollins for allegedly conspiring with Apple to set ebook prices. What does the settlement mean for ebook prices now? Read more at paidContent »
Legal online movie services offered by sites like Youku and Tudou may benefit after e-commerce platform Taobao consents to Hollywood’s pleas that it stop selling counterfeit movie discs. Read more at paidContent »
Hadopi, the French body created by former President Nicolas Sarkozy to enforce copyright laws online, has rarely been popular for its three strikes disconnection policy. Now, after hints that the new government may cut its funding, the group’s leader has told politicians to stop meddling. Read more »
Attorney and licensing expert Bob Kohn, who opposes the DOJ’s proposed ebook pricing settlement with three book publishers, has condensed his argument into comic strip form. He filed the artsy amicus brief with the court today. Read more at paidContent »
The Department of Justice wants the court to accept its proposed ebook pricing settlement with Apple and book publishers, but presiding Judge Denise Cote is allowing more parties who oppose the settlement — the Authors Guild and attorney Bob Kohn — to weigh in as amici curiae. Read more at paidContent »
Australian broadcaster ABC is sending Doctor Who back in time. It is putting episodes online just after they premiere in the UK, hoping viewers will turn away from pirated copies. Read more »
In a filing late Wednesday in response to Apple and book publishers, the Department of Justice reiterates its claim that agency pricing and the alleged conspiracy have resulted in “unmistakable consumer harm,” but refuses to release its ebook pricing analysis. Read more at paidContent »
Along with Apple, publishers Penguin and Macmillan and the Authors Guild submitted filings criticizing the DOJ’s proposed ebook settlement on Wednesday. They argue that the DOJ has not provided analysis of Amazon’s ebook pricing and say the settlement goes too far. Read more at paidContent »
A 38-year-old Englishman becomes the first to be jailed for linking to illegally-hosted movies and TV shows. The method of his prosecution troubles piracy campaigners but delights entertainment owners. Read more at paidContent »
France’s Hadopi piracy agency has warned hundreds of thousands accused of piracy. But it’s become frowned upon by the country’s new government. First step in reform is to cut the agency’s budget. Read more at paidContent »
With peripheral inquiries ongoing in to conspiracy and media ethics, Tuesday’s announcement that Rebekah Brooks, Andy Coulson and six others will be charged for “phone hacking” shows the News Of The World furore will soon finally focus on the original criminal allegations. Read more at paidContent »
Three authors are filing a class-action suit against romance publisher Harlequin for the deprivation of royalties on ebooks. Read more at paidContent »
The Department of Justice’s lawsuit against Apple and major book publishers “sounds plausible on its face, [but] could wipe out the publishing industry as we know it, making it much harder for young authors to get published,” New York senator Charles Schumer writes in a WSJ op-ed. Read more at paidContent »
A protest against Russian proposals to block websites deemed illegal has brought out the web’s big beast, after the bill was passed by the lower house of the country’s parliament. Read more »
The Department of Justice was supposed to publish all of the letters it has received about the ebook pricing settlement by June 25. Its failure to do so violates the Tunney Act, attorney Bob Kohn tells the judge presiding over the case in a letter. Read more at paidContent »
A court ruling says consumers are free re-sell downloaded software just like boxed software. What will it mean for video games, mobile apps and the future of cloud storage? Read more »
When is a book not a book? When it comes to European tax law. The continent is acting against two countries that reduced e-book tax to physical rates, in a sorry and technocratic action. Read more at paidContent »
Google has been cracking down on sites and services that make it possible to convert videos into MP3 files, but now some of its users are firing back with a petition. Their logic: YouTube is a broadcast site, so it should also allow recording. Read more »
