Posts Tagged ‘publishers’

Welcome Boston Globe, New Yorker readers

Alex Beam at the Boston Globe and Ian Crouch at the New Yorker write about the rise of lawsuits over unsatisfactory book contents, as with class actions filed over Greg Mortenson’s challenged memoirs and, before that, those of James Frey. Beam also brings up the outrageous lawsuit against former President Jimmy Carter and his publisher by someone who disagrees with the views Carter expressed in a book on the Mideast conflict. I’m quoted in both pieces (and at especially generous length in Beam’s). [Boston Globe, New Yorker; earlier here, here, etc.] (& WSJ Law Blog)

Update: “Judge Bars Woman From Suing Over Faulty Google Map”

“Finding that Google has no duty to provide accurate content on its website, a Utah judge has thrown out the novel case of a woman who claimed that faulty walking directions on Google Maps caused her to be hit by a car.” [OnPoint News, earlier here, etc.] The same post, updating another story we’ve noted, reports that a bill to make guidebook publishers liable for some injuries to tourists has died in the Hawaii legislature.

“Media industry awash in cease-and-desist letters”

“Spin magazine slapped Eric Rice, a Portland, Oregon Twitter user, with a cease-and-desist over his ‘@Spin‘ Twitter handle…. Spin, however, may just be following the precedent set by other magazines. Entrepreneur, for one, is notorious for bullying small businesses that use the word ‘entrepreneur,’ a term that the magazine claims to own.” [Dylan Stableford, Yahoo Cutline]

“A Comic-Book History of Comic-Book Lawsuits”

Evil Twin Comics:

Get ready for non-stop action, action, action — LEGAL action, that is! The incredible, insane true story of the American comic book industry continues with the ALL-LAWSUIT ISSUE! DC vs. Fawcett! Disney vs. the Air Pirates! Jack Kirby vs. Marvel over his stolen artwork! Steve Gerber over Howard the Duck! Don De Carlo over Josie and the Pussycats!

[“Comic Book Comics #5” via THR Esq. and Lowering the Bar]

Update: French court tosses “book review defamation” case

According to Prof. Joseph Weiler’s website, a tribunal in France has not only dismissed the criminal libel complaint that Prof. Karin Calvo-Goller filed against him, but has imposed a monetary penalty on the complainant for abuse of process. The dispute arose over a negative book review in an academic journal Weiler edits (earlier here, here, etc.).

Class action lawsuit over Jimmy Carter book

A new way to harass authors whose controversial message one disapproves of? The lawsuit, which demands $5 million, claims that the former President’s 2006 volume “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid” contains “numerous false and knowingly misleading statements intended to promote the author’s agenda of anti-Israel propaganda and to deceive the reading public instead of presenting accurate information as advertised.” Sanctions, please! [Washington Post “Political Bookworm”]