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Chinese Novelist Sues Google for Copyright Infringement
The Financial Timesreports
that Google is being sued by a Chinese author whose book was scanned by the search giant as part of its global digitization process. The novelist has sued Google in a Chinese court on the grounds of copyright infringement.
Mian Mian, a 39-year-old author from Shanghai whose realistic descriptions of life with drugs and among prostitutes, gangsters and failed artists, has attracted a large following of young readers, is suing Google for alleged copyright infringement. Sun Jingwei, her lawyer, told the Financial Times that the Haidian People's Court in Beijing would start hearings on December 29.
The case, the first brought against Google by a Chinese writer, underlines the risks that remain to Google's plan to build a digital library which could lay the groundwork for an "iTunes of books" and potentially transform the publishing industry.
*****
Mian Mian filed her complaint on October 23. The author demands that Google apologises for scanning part of her works, deletes the scanned content from its digital library and pays her Rmb60,000 ($8,800) in compensation, Mr Sun said.
He added that the plaintiff had collected evidence of scans of Mian Mian's novels that could be found online although a complete scan of one of her books had been removed in mid-November.
She's suing Google for $8,800? Surely there were some zeros missing from that number? One would think the attorneys' fees alone would cost more than that. Unless, of course, someone in the government is behind the suit and she's a straw man (or woman). Google says it has deleted her novel from its database and is hopeful of winning the case. We can't imagine how much money Google is spending to defend a copyright case in China over one book, but we're sure it's costing the company a lot more than $8,800.
Google said it had taken the author's book offline and that it was "confident of a favourable outcome in this case". A third round of talks between the company and copyright associations is expected, it said.
"Google Books is fully compliant with US and Chinese law," it said in a statement. "In China like everywhere else, if a book is in copyright we don't show more than a few snippets of text without the permission of the rights holder."
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Golden Globe Nominations For Best Screenplay
The Golden Globe nominations were announced yesterday. Here are the nominees for Best Screenplay:
District 9
Written by Neill Blomkamp, Terri Tatchell
The Hurt Locker
Written by Mark Boal
Inglourious Basterds
Written by Quentin Tarantino
It's Complicated
Written by Nancy Meyers
Up In The Air
Written by Jason Reitman, Sheldon Turner
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Borders UK Will Close if Buyer Not Found By December 22
The Bookseller reports
that Borders U.K. (which is no longer affiliated with the U.S. Borders Group after a sale) will close down if if a buyer is not found for the chain by December 22, 2009. The chain is in administration, which is the British equivalent of bankruptcy proceedings.
[Admininstrator] MCR said it was at "advanced stages" of negotiations with a number of parties about purchasing certain stores or assets. But it added that unless a business took Borders over as a going concern, "regrettably all stores will formally cease trading the evening of the 22 December 2009". The final day of employment for the 1,150 Borders staff will be Christmas Eve.
Phil Duffy, partner at MCR, said: "Staff consultation will continue throughout this week and a further update will be given for each store at the end of the week.We have reassured staff that they will be paid for all of their work during the administration."
Earlier today, a document leaked to The Bookseller suggested that a buyer had The Bookseller got ahold of a leaked document which indicates that a buyer has been found for 23 of the stores, but that the deal had not been finalized. We certainly hope the rumors are true. This has been a very difficult year for booksellers and all of the Borders UK employees will be out of a job if a buyer is not found in time.
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Author's Sales Soar After Book Spotted in Tiger Woods Wrecked SUV
Physicist Dr John Gribbin was quite surprised when a friend emailed him photos of the SUV that Tiger Woods crashed in his driveway over Thanksgiving weekend. In the wreckage was Dr. Gribbin's out of print book, Get a Grip on Physics. Dr. Gribbin says that he was thrilled that he was reading about physics, but that if he had paid attention the book he would have realized that he could not speed into an immovable object without dire consequences. Dr. Gribbin is quite funny. Take a look:
The shocking news this week in the writing and book worlds is that Kirkus Reviews and Editor and Publisher are both being shuttered
by Nielsen Co. The company is also selling eight other publications to e5 Global Media LLC, a newly formed company. The publications being sold include The Hollywood Reporter and Billboard.
The newly formed company, e5 Global Media LLC, announced earlier today it has agreed to purchase eight brands belonging to Nielsen Business Media. Pluribus Capital Management and Guggenheim Partners formed e5 jointly.
The brands being acquired are AdweekMedia (which includes Adweek, Mediaweek and Brandweek), The Hollywood Reporter, Billboard, Backstage, The Clio Awards and Film Journal International. E5 Global Media will also acquire the Film Expo business, which includes ShoWest, ShowEast, Cinema Expo International and CineAsia trade shows. The parties declined to identify a purchase price, which other media reports have put at $70 million.
"We decided this was a great time to buy media assets," said Jimmy Finkelstein, chairman e5 Global Media. "We're going to create great businesses in print, online, on mobile, [and] in events, and we think it's the right time to do it."
Pluribus Capital Management is led by Finkelstein, ex-Hearst International president and CEO George Green and Matthew Doull, who will all be putting their own money into the company. The deal is expected to close Dec. 31, 2009. The new company expects to name a new CEO by February.
Romanesko has the memo in which Nielson announced the sale and the closings.
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