tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55301542012-01-23T11:47:59.352-06:00Law and reality in publishing (seldom the same thing) from the author's side of the slush pile, with occasional forays into military affairs, censorship and the First Amendment, legal theory, and anything else that strikes me as interesting.C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comBlogger19561100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-23642483747679316232012-01-23T10:37:00.004-06:002012-01-23T11:47:59.363-06:00

As a public service announcement and on behalf of limiting the spread of communicable disease, please carefully watch the embedded video for some serious medical instruction. An interesting piece in The Economist discusses the problem (if it is one) of anonymous corporate ownership. This is analogous to the problem of Super-PACs in politics. It is one thing to want one's business to

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-61827798425828989522012-01-20T12:21:00.007-06:002012-01-20T13:15:35.383-06:00

Pirates, prepare to walk the plank... Arggggggh! I have a few thoughts about takedown of M3gaUp10ad and (entirely expected and predictable) juvenile (at best) response from An0nym0u5. As an actual exercise of free speech under the First Amendment based upon actual facts instead of just ideology, and in no particular order: The takedown of M3gaUp10ad in this instance demonstrates precisely

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-58881436422140247102012-01-18T09:40:00.009-06:002012-01-18T12:47:03.115-06:00

The Supreme Court decided Golan today, holding that Congress does have the power to reinvigorate foreign copyrights to match what would have happened if the US Copyright Act had been consistent with the Berne Convention. This is entirely consistent with the Court's opinion a couple of years back in Eldred v. Ashcroft, 537 U.S. 186 (2003), which affirmed Congress's authority to extend the

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-64228357141419731162012-01-16T12:28:00.001-06:002012-01-16T12:35:12.955-06:00

Please judge these internet link sausages by the content of their recipes and not the origin of their casings... There's an interesting piece in yesterday's Observer/Grauniad that discusses some of the prices of the UK's libel law... not surprisingly, in a very cursory and opinionated matter, since there's no question at all that something published in the Grauniad would be subject to

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-1193354262541945992012-01-13T11:24:00.005-06:002012-01-13T11:29:22.495-06:00

Friday the Thirteenth is a good day for many workers paid on the 15th of the month, because it means payday is two days early. Without further comment due to multiple conflicts, consider a coherent piece on scams and bad deals aimed at authors who self-publish. Here's a side effect of the Borders bankruptcy: externally imposed, ideologically driven changes in product mix. This

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-28607842851987320642012-01-11T12:06:00.005-06:002012-01-11T13:12:44.251-06:00

Those of you who've been complaining about how little meat there is in the link sausages can skip to the bottom of this entry. The day of the New Hampshire "primary," the manufacturer (miner?) of Twinkies and other wholesome snacks declares bankruptcy. Coincidence? I think not... The fallout from excessive copyright terms is tone-deaf, otherwise-disinherited nephews determining

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-38102054794282662972012-01-08T16:12:00.012-06:002012-01-08T16:43:45.314-06:00

I'm not at all pleased by anything I'm seeing in the Heffalump primaries. It says something quite unsatisfactory that the party is in the thrall of its Know-Nothings, its Klansmen, its Lower-Upper-Middles — its dwarves, now that Snow Reallyreallywhite has gone to sleep (hopefully for a few hundred years). In particular: Ron Paul wants a return to the gold standard along with his crown. I say

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-52078373313926176692012-01-05T16:10:00.007-06:002012-01-05T16:30:34.156-06:00

There is substantial (justified) controversy right now about the proposed Stop Online Piracy Act and alternate versions that have been proposed. The attacks variously construe SOPA as an "internet kill switch for Hollywood", a "censorship engine for the Internet", and various other ills that largely boil down to assertions that BigMedia will use SOPA to entirely shut down parts of the 'net that

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-28047859425375069092012-01-04T12:56:00.008-06:002012-01-04T13:15:16.123-06:00

The following link sausages are alternately flavored with rant and academia (or sometimes both), but they're all variations on salsiccia sardonicus. It's up to you to figure out which is which... or just be vaguely amused and not bother. An alternate explanation for the banking crisis: Banking leaders are psychopaths, and are hired because they're psychopaths. This sheds some rather

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-45746370648239290432012-01-02T10:42:00.003-06:002012-01-02T10:46:59.979-06:00

It is 2012 now, after all. It's not just the Mayans; it's also Nostradamus. And an unjustly underappreciated Anthony Burgess novel. And if the incessant blathering of the Heffalumps isn't enough to make one wish for the end of the world, I don't know what will be... Stephen Hawking nears 70 and is still more productive trapped inside of an ALS-ravaged body than any politician or

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-64993817389483759902011-12-28T07:42:00.003-06:002011-12-28T07:48:09.084-06:00

By this time tomorrow, anyway. The preparations for that little reconnaissance mission have eaten up a lot of time this past month! The Economist offers an off-the-wall vision of Martin Luther as a precursor to the Arab Spring... which makes sense if, and only if, one can distinguish between "church" and "state" in the Islamic world. On the other hand, the thus-far-successful

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-47376199027289503032011-12-24T13:18:00.003-06:002011-12-24T13:27:39.968-06:00

Condolences to family, friends, and colleagues for the untimely death of Professor Ribstein, a (if not the) leading theorist on business entity structures that are not corporations. We were at most academic acquaintances who had met a couple of times in passing. Our politics did not match well, but our shared interest in the interface between individuals and their business interests led to some

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-81256861855728827912011-12-21T14:02:00.003-06:002011-12-21T14:03:33.057-06:00

I've been spending the last week-plus surrounded by various types of dead bodies. (And the house sure stinks because of it... although one should also recall that the term for the back files of a periodical is a "morgue".) Zombies, however, don't make for great blogging. At least not for me. The first notable death in question is Christopher Hitchens. This is the loss of an

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-19851279131599977572011-12-12T12:21:00.004-06:002011-12-12T12:59:06.637-06:00

The flu is so much more fun at one remove with remoras also going through end-of-semester panic... So EyeOfNewt doesn't think that "Palestinian" is a "real" ethnicity worthy of political recognition, eh? I was always taught that glib generalizations should have at least some basis in fact, unless they're being used solely for comic relief. This one must have been for comic relief.

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-14402399213369857622011-12-06T22:49:00.002-06:002011-12-07T00:53:02.258-06:00

So, if they're "student-athletes," perhaps a little bit of the "student" aspect needs to go into college football "standings." I therefore present the Bowl Standings for Collegiate Athletic Commercial Advantage, or BS-CACA. I'll weight the BS-CACA equally between "football performance" and "academic performance," which in turn is equally weighted between the NCAA's most-recent academic progress

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-1224902735454843082011-12-06T10:41:00.002-06:002011-12-06T10:46:12.195-06:00

Just remember: A tree's natural enemy is not some woodland creature, but a lawyer. Unless, that is, you're talking about a lawyer who is also a woodland creature, like a weasel who passes the bar exam. GBS Update: Yes, I know I'm late on describing the legal theory of the HathiTrust complaint, and its flaws. Literally as I was getting ready to post the first entry, I got an outside

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-15929389111136108252011-12-02T12:26:00.002-06:002011-12-02T22:31:46.799-06:00

When I first started dealing with the publishing industry as a prospective author and sometime journalist (and underground newspaper publisher) over three decades ago, things were somewhat simpler, primarily in the sense that "quantity has a quality of its own." No less bizarre; no less irrational; no less downright dishonest; no less dominated by myths with no foundation at all, let alone a

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-76077805377199614352011-11-29T11:40:00.002-06:002011-11-29T11:42:04.407-06:00

Slowly emerging from tryptophan hangover... There's a fascinating list at Foreign Policy (yes, the descendant of that cold-war journal) purporting to identify the world's 100 most influential thinkers. The list is entirely consistent with FP's twin biases against science and the arts... by largely ignoring them. Of course, competing such "lists" have their own blind spots — but it says

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-80462847306651350822011-11-24T11:23:00.001-06:002011-11-24T20:24:18.619-06:00

An annual tradition for over a decade! This is my list of ridiculous people from 2011 (so far). Pass me one of those rolls, please: The Greasy Gravy Award for oily publicity that makes the main dish inedible goes to MordorNewsCorp and the Murdoch family for both the activities involved and the coverup. It almost makes one consider "Remember the Maine" as a paragon of journalistic and

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-36581514113079641622011-11-21T11:35:00.005-06:002011-11-21T12:28:44.789-06:00

Holiday preparations go really well with migraines. David Segal, in another item in the NYT, hops again on the "law schools don't create lawyers" bandwagon. Leaving aside that there is not one educational program — in any field — that adequately prepares someone to step into "practice" in the "real world" without some additional training, if only in the administrivia of particular

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-79159079661574009782011-11-14T13:03:00.001-06:002011-11-14T13:04:49.363-06:00

... even for link sausages. Yes, sausages have context, too: They're ways to keep animal products (relatively) safe to eat for longer after slaughter, and to increase the proportion of a given dead animal that is consumed as a protein source in the first place by using otherwise difficult-to-prepare bits and pieces. McZorgle's "all meat patties" have nothing on the ingenuity of sausage-makers who

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-6663390762722414442011-11-10T13:54:00.001-06:002011-11-10T13:57:16.313-06:00

If there's a theme for today's platter of link sausages — aside from the dubious ingredients common to sausage-making — it is the Blues Brothers, and in particular the film. (We do not speak the name of its progeny in this household.) Is James Murdoch the twisted, privileged next life of Jake Blues? After his "performance art" piece today in front of Parliament blaming everyone else

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-90101734879410093412011-11-08T23:03:00.001-06:002011-11-08T23:04:54.835-06:00

Authors' Guild v. HathiTrustII(c) The Imaginary Component of Complex Litigation Suing HathiTrust (in essay form)Proposed Settlement With Google (in essay form)Suing Google (in essay form) There is one other purely civil-procedure aspect of this mess that remains underappreciated... and is going to turn around and bite somebody on the butt (my money is on Google as the bitee, for reasons that I

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-33268580933645415812011-11-08T12:12:00.007-06:002011-11-08T12:22:39.997-06:00

Just a quick note here... Life does throw up its interesting distractions from important things like blawgging at times, like preparing a consultation client for a hearing on a complex litigation matter of a nature new to him. Like dealing with remoras. Like back spasms. And so on. In any event, I've now finally cleared all of the conflicts on the HathiTrust stuff, and the next installment will

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-52661097794174288312011-11-02T11:33:00.005-05:002011-11-02T11:43:09.301-05:00

Back to the music of my misspent youth today... Herman Cain has a secret fondness for John Lennon, apparent long ago, when he was running Godfather's Pizza. Nobody ever notes that the chain's franchise headquarters avoided bankruptcy on his watch by trickling debt down to its franchise operators — many of whom then went through bankruptcy — meanwhile asking those same franchisees to "

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-58937185025211330252011-10-31T13:15:00.004-05:002011-10-31T13:28:04.761-05:00

I'm knife-down in the virtual jack-o-lantern at the moment dealing with deadlines. I really have done the next post on the HathiTrust matter, but it needs one more pass and paying clients come first... In any event, I do need to put one rumor as reported to me from over the weekend at WFC out of my misery. Contrary to statements made by someone who should know better, it is simply untrue that

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-74089891697793646992011-10-24T10:20:00.003-05:002011-10-24T10:25:50.457-05:00

The unlaid plans of mice (and men) aft gang awry, as in the last few days here at Casa de Lawshark. Two sleepless nights in the last four, an inquiry on HathiTrust that I have to finish up (hopefully today) before continuing to blawg on that monstrosity, and the usual variety of nonsense make for a particularly underdone platter of link sausages. A blog entry hosted at the LAT this

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-83381028202048805562011-10-20T13:01:00.003-05:002011-10-20T13:08:18.179-05:00

Q'daffi Duck, that is... One of the more odious dictators in recent years — and that's up against some pretty stiff competition — has been "confirmed dead" with cellphone pictures published in close to real time at the Grauniad. Good riddance to Q'daffi Duck; I can now cancel my vacation plans for El Dorado Canyon. And, hopefully, we can put the Pan Am 103 "prosecution" to rest, too;

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-84784973015156343842011-10-18T11:33:00.001-05:002011-10-18T12:34:47.050-05:00

Life has again intervened, and these link sausages seem to be firing blanks during their drive-by shootings... GBS Update: The Authors' Guild filed a fourth amended complaint (PDF) last Friday that utterly fails to repair most of the problems with the existing complaint... and adds a few more of its own. Most notably, the AG has not changed its fundamentally flawed analysis of the

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-76521552790571051102011-10-11T11:44:00.005-05:002011-10-11T21:26:34.835-05:00

A lingering case of the 'flu can sure infect the link sausages. Don't worry, though — this batch was started afterward. I suppose I'll get this over with up front: I come not to praise Steve Jobs, but to bury him. And his cultural imperialism. (Remember, I was building computers before there was an Apple.) If there is one thing that Jobs should be known for — but is not — it is his

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-84990539081830936912011-10-04T11:10:00.003-05:002011-10-04T11:13:35.230-05:00

Just one great big ring sausage on the platter this morning: The European Union has destroyed the concept of territorial rights in copyrighted material, to which I say "good riddance." And it's all thanks to a combination of football (the real kind), pubs, and Rupert Murdoch's greed. Schade. Today's ruling in Football Association Premier League Ltd., et al., v. QC Leisure, et al., No. C–403/08

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-15564428669104308602011-10-02T14:53:00.006-05:002011-10-03T19:55:56.474-05:00

Authors' Guild v. HathiTrustII(b) Litigation Without Representation Suing HathiTrust (in essay form)Proposed Settlement With Google (in essay form)Suing Google (in essay form) It's time for a (seeming) side trip to find some mangoes, make a nice mango cream pudding... and discover that this lawsuit, for purely civil procedure reasons, means far less than most commentators have been willing to

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-12555243299247883942011-09-29T14:43:00.002-05:002011-09-29T18:47:15.324-05:00

Just taking a short break from the civil procedure jungle of the HathiTrust lawsuit today (OK, it's a day-long break, but I actually have waiting rooms to wait in, too...). Maybe we'll make it all the way to the bridge at Do Long tomorrow. Not with amusement, but with vast cynicism begun at a briefing at USAFE headquarters in the 1980s "suggesting" that US servicemembers and family

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-83748542115885224442011-09-28T14:05:00.005-05:002011-09-28T14:31:08.587-05:00

Authors' Guild v. HathiTrust:II. Entering the Procedural Jungle Suing HathiTrust (in essay form)Proposed Settlement With Google (in essay form)Suing Google (in essay form) By the time we're through here, and finally reach all of the nerdy policy stuff relating to the merits that everyone has been debating without considering how the procedural jungle shapes that debate, we'll definitely be

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-38273519523180259522011-09-27T08:06:00.005-05:002011-09-27T10:09:32.346-05:00

Authors' Guild v. HathiTrust:Just When You Thought It Was Safe to Go Back to the Library Suing HathiTrust (in essay form)Proposed Settlement With Google (in essay form)Suing Google (in essay form) This is an initial review only of the third segment of the Google BookScan lawsuits, generally known as the "HathiTrust suit" and formally known as Authors' Guild, Inc. v. HathiTrust, No. 11–6351 (

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-15714981587786752582011-09-26T11:10:00.002-05:002011-09-26T11:14:35.954-05:00

Isn't dealing with a tire puncture on a Sunday — in an area in which there is no auto service/repair available from midday on Saturday until Monday morning — a great way to spend what passes for a weekend? At least it was a training opportunity for teaching one of the remoras how to change a tire... The fun and games of figuring out politics in Southwest Asia just got even more fun as

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-74839598114222316022011-09-23T15:00:00.004-05:002011-09-23T15:09:38.530-05:00

... now with new, improved sawdust filler! There's a purported list of those who influence what gets read in England on the Grauniad's website. The substance is quite simple: Only a very small minority — about 22 or 23 by my count — are people who see books in manuscript form as submitted by the authors. Instead, the vast majority of these people are in the sales-and-distribution chain,

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-59376869236225024792011-09-20T12:23:00.001-05:002011-09-20T12:24:58.659-05:00

Life sure can be... interesting. And so can the undead. Congratulations to this year's MacArthur Fellows. It's always somewhat amusing to try to tease out a theme from the "genius grant" panels each year — it's almost as much fun as trying to figure out what the pluralities that elect political figures in this country (thanks to our poor voter turnout) really want. This year, one thing

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-11308355231170460892011-09-15T14:10:00.005-05:002011-09-15T14:21:36.923-05:00

... don't worry existentially about being it. Evil, that is — if you're Google. Thanks to yet another complaint by the Authors' Guild claiming to represent authors who cannot qualify for membership in the Authors' Guild under its own rules — this time, against HathiTrust — and the results of this morning's status conference in the GBS matters before Judge Chin, there's a lot to chew over.

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-9650307149715165142011-09-11T18:30:00.004-05:002011-09-11T21:24:27.044-05:00

It's not very often that B.D. gets it completely right... but he did today. Here's a thought for everyone who doesn't need a physical memorial, or care whether there's a mosque within a kilometer of the World Trade Center, or need to see some field in Pennsylvania... and worked the piles (and files) anyway.

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-20417454172526400522011-09-08T15:44:00.013-05:002011-09-08T21:43:18.279-05:00

... Judge Motz, on the Fourth Down Circuit, shows that she knows how to punt for distance on the Affordable Care Act (aka "Obamacare"). Given the controversy over "death panels," I won't make any more jokes than this one about coffin-corner punts, either. Virginia v. Sibelius, No. 2011–1047 (33pp, 15 of which are caption material) Holding: Virginia does not have a sufficient interest in its

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-63052271305445134702011-09-06T10:46:00.006-05:002011-09-06T10:59:42.522-05:00

These link sausages have grown over several days and appear in largely random order on the platter. Congratulations to the finalists for this year's Booker Prize for best UK-citizen-authored novel. It's an interesting group... and, unlike over here, there's actually "controversy" at "omissions" from the slate. OK, it's a pretty pathetic excuse for "controversy," but it's more than

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-44308451783915975252011-08-31T12:30:00.003-05:002011-08-31T12:34:20.387-05:00

... with lots of not-so-secret spices. If you're busy bitching about your tax bill, perhaps you should learn how other "taxpayers" deal with the "problem" (PDF). If corporations are so intent on being treated as "persons" with the right to influence Congress (even though they're not voters, or eligible for jury duty), and to sue and be sued, and everything else of that nature,

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-71388673601696216582011-08-29T11:17:00.002-05:002011-08-30T00:14:36.123-05:00

Life beats the alternatives, but it sure does get in the way of blawgging. Too, with this being the end of August, the publishing industry has been rather moribund for a couple of weeks. I just love it when people propose legal reforms without looking at the substance of either what they're doing or what others have done with the same situation. This proposal/concern expressed by

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-51950153974250674912011-08-22T11:44:00.002-05:002011-08-22T11:51:55.303-05:00

It's the first day of school! I get to hang around the house without the clump-clump of remora feet today! Congratulations to the nominees for and recipients of the Hugo Awards for "best" science fiction and fantasy works (and various support/fannish activities), announced Saturday night at the World Science Fiction Convention. The recipients were: Novel: Connie Willis

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-4293935997881424382011-08-19T18:33:00.001-05:002011-08-19T21:39:06.887-05:00

The Settlement (in essay form)The Lawsuit (in essay form) So why am I so dismissive of the dissent in Muchnick IV (and yes, the comparison to a bad series of horror films is both traditional in law and intentionally ridiculous for this matter)? It's a very simple reason, but its bound up in the complex institutional dynamics of the Second Circuit and, more generally, in excessive stare decisis.

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-575659897322378772011-08-17T11:20:00.006-05:002011-08-17T12:06:58.751-05:00

  The Settlement (in essay form)The Lawsuit (in essay form) ... and that's a good thing. This morning, the Second Circuit decided In re Literary Works in Elect. Databases Copyright Litig., No. 05–5943 (PDF), on remand from the Supreme Court's opinion in Muchnick. The Second Circuit decided (2–1) that: We agree with objectors that the interests of class members who

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-26368809101414545572011-08-15T10:39:00.004-05:002011-08-15T10:44:16.760-05:00

One of the tradeoffs adopted in the Copyright Act of 1976 was the "termination rights" in § 203. I don't expect anyone to try to untangle that badly drafted section, which is probably the most convoluted and least clear in the entire Act (except, that is, for its counterpart for older works, § 304(c)) — and that's up against some pretty stiff competition, such as § 512. In any event,

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-16754494713781572982011-08-11T12:25:00.004-05:002011-08-11T12:32:24.588-05:00

Sometimes the best way to deal with extremism and racism is not through the ballot box, but through subversive t-shirt giveaways. Perhaps someone should try this sort of thing in Tehran, and then leave the country very very quickly... given that the current Iranian theocracy seems to think there's something worse than being an American. Remember AmazonFail 3.21, when I

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-61490185838811108242011-08-09T10:26:00.003-05:002011-08-09T10:31:48.709-05:00

Life. It beats the alternative, but damn it can get in the way of important things like blawgging. More evidence that bow ties are a symbol of the banality of evil, or something like that. What I find most fascinating about this is the implication for what a corporate entities investment in another, similarly prominent and capitalized corporate entity implies about the psychology of

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-9132157493869872612011-08-04T11:44:00.005-05:002011-08-04T12:17:32.355-05:00

There's a recent trend in literary agent activities that presents many opportunities, both good and bad. Some agents are working with their clients to bring clients' works out as e-books. The following is general commentary that aspires to help both agents and authors avoid some of the pitfalls of such a relationship. First, though, one needs to eliminate one purported problem from the

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-21240843515698784692011-08-01T11:57:00.003-05:002011-08-01T12:02:27.616-05:00

Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. In the first stage of life the mind is frivolous and easily distracted; it misses

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-82471008662285760402011-07-27T13:38:00.003-05:002011-07-27T13:45:22.237-05:00

There's a rather British flavor to today's link sausages... let's just hope it's from good porter or dark ale and not from Marmite, ok? The Force is not with George Lucas. It is, instead, with Brainerd Currie. And now, US-based fen trying to get authentic (as in "cast from the original mould") Imperial Stormtrooper helmets will have to go to England to get them. Maybe. The Supreme

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-63913713337122266522011-07-26T12:54:00.006-05:002011-07-26T13:44:45.905-05:00

Just the kid-sized platter of link sausages this afternoon, as I've got Stuff and Life and Remoras to take care of... Borders Bankruptcy Update: Books-a-Million has pulled out of its partial purchase arrangement and option. This is not entirely surprising, although it is somewhat disappointing. What this means is that those thirty-odd Borders locations that appeared to have been granted a

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-86945246877395688992011-07-22T11:09:00.004-05:002011-07-22T21:07:23.851-05:00

... long live the chain. The demise of Borders is far from unexpected. The initial bankruptcy filing demonstrated all of the seeds of it — including, but not limited to, well-above-average-interest-rate terms offered for debtor-in-possession financing. There remain a few issues to consider, as lessons learned in general and for authors/publishers/those who give a rat's ass about books, that are

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-50227558976428353242011-07-20T15:39:00.001-05:002011-07-20T15:42:02.050-05:00

We've had three of the hottest years in the last century in the last six. Global warming is at least more probable than the Easter Bunny... or politicians genuinely working for the public good... or Illinois governors staying out of jail. My favorite from this list of "medical benefits" is Harry Potter Casts a Spell on Accident-Prone Children. I think someone at the Trib spent too much

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-53903835025640917862011-07-18T13:24:00.004-05:002011-07-18T13:36:36.817-05:00

Life has again intervened... Anybody want a couple of remoras? I'm meaner than Andrew Wylie. And I'm going to prove it. An article at The Bookseller recounts, sans details of any kind, what HarperCollins — the bound-volume-publishing outpost of Mordor NewsCorp — claims is a "crude attempt to link a business disagreement with more serious matters." Well, I'm not as circumspect as is

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-78123735739768187642011-07-13T11:19:00.002-05:002011-07-13T12:25:35.243-05:00

The forces of Sauron Murdoch's falangista media empire subsidiaries have withdrawn their bid for the UK's largest satellite-TV vendor under continued pressure from the wiretapping scandal at the for-now-defunct News of the World. There's no word yet, though, whether the nepotism/dynasticism of Murdoch's son running the UK things, or for that matter Rebekah Brooks running things for

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-75202184793757899832011-07-11T10:42:00.003-05:002011-07-11T10:52:01.209-05:00

Slowly accreting over the weekend on top of a migraine... In something that sounds like it's from an actual episode, a Doctor Who LARPer caused a bomb scare in downtown Chicago with a LARP (that is, fake) bomb. On the one hand, in this era of Mystery Security Theater 2001, just how stupid do you have to be to use a semirealistic looking mockup of a bomb as a game prop? On the other hand,

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-13513517362945177882011-07-08T13:08:00.001-05:002011-07-08T14:15:11.567-05:00

...title sort of inspired by the musical guest on last night's rerun of Letterman, which was on in the background while I was wrestling with some contract language... One of the problems of public discourse in the US is declarations that a particular proposed or actual government action (or even inaction) is "unconstitutional" as a means of shaming its advocates. Part of the problem

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-52758871583023096282011-07-06T10:57:00.002-05:002011-07-06T11:02:03.664-05:00

I'm simultaneously cringing and giving one of my famous gleeful about-to-eat-a-helpless-swimmer toothy smiles at the NotW wiretapping scandal in England — and its implications for doctrinaire libertarianism. I'm cringing because nobody deserves the kind of treatment that Rupert Murdoch's Sauron's pet and protege at least tolerated, and more probably encouraged — and, at minimum, was

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-34992844089533087272011-07-04T11:50:00.005-05:002011-07-04T14:10:11.744-05:00

(Continued from yesterday; the Monday link sausages are all destined for the barbecue as my kids do the Caucasian-American rain dance, since the vegetarian crawled out of the marinade again this year.) Reflexiveness. Reflections (and refractions). Optical delusions and illusions and "Real America" and marketing wisdom. Yes, there is a reflected image still in that fun-house mirror that goes a

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-46595402317078569182011-07-03T10:06:00.000-05:002011-07-03T13:01:13.973-05:00

Rather than a platter of link sausages the day before we celebrate our first declaration of "Mission Accomplished," I thought I'd bore you with some theoretical musings that have been getting more focused over the last decade... and more useful as predictors of the future. Just bear with me, authors; this might scare you, but it might be educational and helpful, too. So, then: How are

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-47779774907293380892011-06-29T15:22:00.001-05:002011-06-29T18:23:51.407-05:00

... and vice versa. Further evidence that we're underusing a critical, highly cost effective medical instrument. My response to those "My Kid Can Beat Up Your Honor Student" bumper stickers popular in the late 1990s was to ask those parents to guess who might be the judge in their little thug's divorce/domestic violence proceeding in a couple of decades... or who his boss might

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-232684745301137492011-06-27T12:23:00.003-05:002011-06-27T16:09:14.713-05:00

Since I often feel like the publishing industry wouldn't just be glad if I was burned at the stake — it would sell pseudocelebrity personal reflections on the otherwise-unheard-of incident... Just what educational publishing needs: One of the imprints most prone to reinterpretation of contracts in its own favor in American educational publishing is being purchased by a unit of one of

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-52872912467403349462011-06-23T12:44:00.002-05:002011-06-23T12:51:15.970-05:00

... for the Supreme Court. There was a big dump of cases today, two of which concern writers — albeit somewhat indirectly. There will be more decisions next week, but as there are only four remaining cases it is entirely possible that they could all be issued on Monday — including the long-pending decision in the violent videogames case, which was argued in early November and is the

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-69726518485815312552011-06-22T13:19:00.003-05:002011-06-22T19:13:15.123-05:00

I got tied up yesterday, so things got delayed. A NYT music critic admits to being a "special needs" person (his words) in a piece on migrating music to the cloud that has more at the margins than I think the critic realizes. The obvious problem is with artistic integrity. This is already a minor problem with random-play systems; for example, the Moody Blues' "Timothy Leary" means

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-82934435404965932252011-06-20T13:52:00.003-05:002011-06-22T18:35:36.786-05:00

Borders Bankruptcy Update: Things are proceeding apace, although it's starting to look more and more like the remaining parts of the chain will be sold en masse to a third party, which will then (either immediately or over time) shed the parts it doesn't really want. What is most interesting is something that news reports like this one are not commenting upon: That the majority of the

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-63442786534734511672011-06-15T12:30:00.002-05:002011-06-15T12:30:56.109-05:00

Here's a fascinating story at the intersection of intellectual property, legislative agendas, and greed: Senator Schumer's pro-banking-industry contribution to patent reform that actually makes objective sense, at least if expanded to all method patents. One might well ask whether similar measures are appropriate to deal copyright trolls like Righthaven, without requiring a judge to

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-42481734731415356072011-06-13T15:10:00.002-05:002011-06-13T16:17:51.301-05:00

This is being posted late because I've been struggling with plumbing most of the day... I've heard that the real reason that Anthony Weiner is taking a leave of absence is to upgrade from Oscar Mayer to Nathan's. "It was either that or publicly choose a brand of mustard to endorse, and that's just too difficult a choice," said a hypothetical nonspokesperson. Calls to the Beenie-Weenie

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-21324587502272501602011-06-09T12:45:00.003-05:002011-06-09T12:50:11.074-05:00

It's that time of year again: The Supreme Court is in its annual rush to get all the papers graded so it can go on summer break. (Hey, I've spent summers in DC; nobody can really get any work done there anyway, so why not?) But first, this important commercial message. There's a flip side to authors going all indy-press: pushing marketing considerations too far toward the writing

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-39200903596269075972011-06-07T19:01:00.005-05:002011-06-07T21:17:28.891-05:00

...well, not really. On 15 June, George Washington University School of Law is hosting a panel entitled "Can the Google Book Settlement Be Fixed?". Leaving aside that the title fails to ask a fundamental prerequisite question — should it be fixed? — I feel compelled to point out the ridiculous construction of the panel. In alphabetical order: Jonathan Band (Jonathan Band, PLLC) — an

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-32752669573822076602011-06-06T11:50:00.002-05:002011-06-06T11:52:48.556-05:00

The biggest barrier to ebookstores truly replacing brick-and-mortar bookstores is a simple one: "If it's on the 'net, it must be free", which isn't unique to music at all. Chicken or egg? Cable news or collapse of newspapers? Public disdain or ideological propaganda? The key concern is this: Does knowing "which came first" matter, either in understanding the result or preventing

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-40042164949181901532011-06-03T14:36:00.003-05:002011-06-03T14:59:08.492-05:00

Our top story this afternoon: Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead. In other news of concern to writers: Borders bankruptcy hearing: To nobody's surprise at all, Judge Glenn agreed at yesterday's hearing to grant Borders a 120-day extension of its exclusive right to present a reorganization plan (order, Doc. 966; opinion, Doc. 969, both PDF). What is most disturbing about this

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-4574693208253197222011-06-01T12:16:00.001-05:002011-06-01T13:22:18.867-05:00

Congratulations to Maria Pallante, the new Register of Copyrights of the United States. I wonder if they get airline miles? Not too bad for a camel, all things considered. (Yes, I'm thinking dark thoughts about how the demands of the defense and intelligence communities — which generally remain unrevealed and undiscussed — affected the shuttle's design in ways that possibly led to one

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-38341991811026392932011-05-30T16:15:00.002-05:002011-05-30T16:22:29.117-05:00

If the road to hell is paved with good intentions, how did I end up in hell? I didn't hike on back country trails to get here! Here is yet another example of why I do not use the Nimmer treatise on copyright. As Professor Bartow notes, the current Nimmer has (yet again) changed his "authoritative" opinion to match his clients' immediate interests in a live dispute — and one should

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-44950958775574968432011-05-23T11:58:00.000-05:002011-05-23T13:00:56.978-05:00

Before diving into the link sausages, congratulations to the Nebula Award winners and nominees, including my clients, friends, and acquaintances... Sometimes a "special relationship" isn't as special as it should be. Prosecutors have a special duty to disclose everything they know, at least to the other party; one can never tell when the seemingly irrelevant, mildly exculpatory bit of

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-44040120626581725552011-05-19T12:42:00.005-05:002011-05-19T18:30:53.350-05:00

OK, you can pull them out from under the mattress: Playboy is putting its entire archive on digital readers. It's going to be very, very interesting to see how they handle the Tasini problem; back in the day when people would read Playboy for the articles (and fiction), the contract did not acquire electronic display rights for the pieces... so the only way the Bunnies can do this is via

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-15970952197566214822011-05-16T11:07:00.002-05:002011-05-16T11:10:16.753-05:00

Finals week: It was fun for the whole family! "Fun" meaning "fouled up nonsense" or something a lot like that. The correct answer, obviously, is "beatniks" — many of the Beat Poets have collections available: Licensing. Lawyers are licensed and regulated, however ineptly and idiotically. So are architects, accountants, engineers, real estate agents, doctors, nurses, plumbers,

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-26095771648816160972011-05-09T09:29:00.003-05:002011-05-09T11:32:30.348-05:00

I've been warned about thinkin' too much, but I haven't had enough caffeine (or thistles) yet today to pay heed to such warnings. An interesting story on the recorded music industry presages nothing less than the return of the Duke of Milan... as an untitled commoner: In short, a return to the patronage model rejected in the Statute of Anne (1709), the first modern copyright statute.

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-72100089664873117322011-05-08T12:47:00.002-05:002011-05-08T12:50:57.919-05:00

Money flows toward the author. Except when it doesn't... Monica Goodling did not get what she deserves. She got more than I expected the Virginia bar to give her for her partisanization of, and ideological purity tests for, hiring at the Department of Justice under George III, though: she's been reprimanded. Nice slap on the wrist, there, even if it's more than I expected (which was

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-23704496528238218132011-05-04T14:01:00.004-05:002011-05-04T17:09:17.308-05:00

... and I'm compelled to try to correct it. That would place my sanity in question — if, that is, there were any question about the absence thereof! Cultural arrogance plus lingering communism (not Marxism) among the governing elite equals... price uniformity imposed on e-book sales in (and to) France by the French government. In a unanimous vote. This, if nothing else, justifies kicking

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-90307726036676620492011-05-02T11:33:00.001-05:002011-05-02T13:35:16.728-05:00

Even if my NDA did not restrict me to meaningless platitudes, the lack of information on some critical aspects (for good and sufficient reasons of operational security) would keep me from comment. Onward to the link sausage platter! License or sale? The recorded music industry is struggling with that now, and it makes a huge difference to recording artists (not so much to songwriters,

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-89261061449411695802011-04-28T10:57:00.002-05:002011-04-28T10:59:48.075-05:00

I'm not angry. I'm just terribly, terribly sad. An interesting profile of Paul Krugman and his "liberal" writings has a fascinating lacuna in it, similar to the one at the heart of virtually all contemporary (and economic) discourse: It uses the word "liberal" without ever adopting/maintaining a consistent definition, let alone stating it. That's bad thinking, bad writing, and bad

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-80224575957499007242011-04-26T10:17:00.006-05:002011-04-26T11:10:38.891-05:00

In dubious celebration of World Intellectual Property Day, herewith a few updates and thoughts thereon (sorry, I've been reading 1970s-era H'wood contracts a lot over the last few days...): GBS Update: Nobody filed a timely notice of appeal from Judge Chin's 22 March 2011 ruling, so things will proceed in the District Court. The hearing that was set for yesterday has been delayed until 01 June

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-24759599486184104452011-04-25T13:30:00.003-05:002011-04-25T14:42:05.040-05:00

I only wish this was fictional: On to the suspicious link sausages of dubious origin indeed! Whitewashing isn't restricted just to YA book covers: It's pervasive in H'wood. Of course, Mr Morris misses the common point of reference: It's not the whiteness of the audience, or the whiteness of the creators; it's the upper-middle-class whiteness (and maleness, and Protestantness) of the

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-25571710676910189132011-04-22T10:49:00.003-05:002011-04-22T10:54:21.706-05:00

Just watching the morning thunderstorms go by while I stuff these link sausages in their virtual casings... Just a quick Borders bankruptcy update: In a move that would surprise absolutely nobody who has ever looked at the records of even a single retail-sector Chapter 11 case before, Borders is seeking to enhance its line of credit by another 10% ($50 million). Whether this should be

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-46407561006940738682011-04-21T14:46:00.008-05:002011-04-21T16:31:47.512-05:00

Today's late platter was waiting for a couple of anticipated items... Fans of Bratz dolls can breathe easier — until the (next) inevitable appeal, that is. In what the LATimes calls a "stunning decision" (probably because the paper has previously demonstrated not just no, but negative, knowledge of intellectual property and unfair competition law), an Orange County jury found for MGA and

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-32387065053168977162011-04-19T11:48:00.007-05:002011-04-19T15:19:03.304-05:00

Some of these link sausages are not all that current... one might call them "carefully aged" except for the "careful" part. I don't want to see Donald Trump's tax return. I want to see a birth certificate for his hair... and the full accounting statements (not just the summaries) for each of the three corporations he's managed into bankruptcy for both the time of bankruptcy and one year before

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-15087475309864439262011-04-16T15:27:00.004-05:002011-04-16T15:58:33.768-05:00

Just a short note today; consider this the chunks of meat and seasonings that go into making internet link sausages... Once dystopia week at Tor.com is actually over, I'll have some comments aside from my sniff of disdain. Mr de Vries's comments today, asserting that dystopias and utopias are entirely black/white propositions, merely reinforce that disdain. But then, this isn't a topic in

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-4277298554782273632011-04-12T11:45:00.002-05:002011-04-12T11:51:46.267-05:00

In what might be a truly ironic problem, I can't reach the American Library Association site to link to the announced list of most-challenged books of 2010... and it looks from the outside like it might be a DDoS attack (censorship of complaints about censorship), or conversely a simple system crash due to overloading (popularity of complaints about censorship). That said, GalleyCat (a

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-70900510586051559332011-04-11T08:33:00.001-05:002011-04-11T10:11:24.139-05:00

Just a quick Borders bankruptcy update to start the week off right... Last Thursday, there was an omnibus hearing covering a bunch of motions and administrative matters. Last Friday, Judge Glenn signed an order establishing deadlines (Doc. 580) (PDF). And, of course, the "publishing press" has had not one word to say on it. The 08 April 2011 order establishes the "bar date" for filing proofs of

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-49364825273510017172011-04-07T12:17:00.002-05:002011-04-07T12:22:01.334-05:00

Here's an indirect demonstration that Borders will never be able to emerge successfully from bankruptcy: Even when talking about how tough it is to be a small publisher, publishers get the math wrong for their own businesses. Now this was in the Grauniad, so perhaps the math error in stating that £4 – £0.82 = £2.18 is a copyediting error at the newspaper (which is ironic enough on its own,

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-60315676173517555662011-04-04T13:03:00.002-05:002011-04-04T13:06:11.942-05:00

...in stark contrast to the "Reverend" Terry Jones and the predictable results of his bigotry. English philosopher A.C. Grayling discusses his book promoting atheism. The money quotes: "The truth is that the book is very modestly done. My wife did give me a card," he giggles, "that said, 'I used to be an atheist until I realised I am God'. And I know that on Monty Pythonesque grounds

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-7939127496615198202011-04-01T21:03:00.006-05:002011-04-02T01:23:42.973-05:00

In the news today (and, despite the date, at least two of the below are factually true): Professor Leiter has struck a blow for intellectual honesty. And so has John Scalzi, if a bit less on the "intellectual" side, joined by Charlie Stross... and not joined by Jay Lake. The Cubs began their season with a loss to a team whose best player underwent an emergency appendectomy. It's already

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-55304993906216187122011-03-30T11:46:00.004-05:002011-03-30T11:54:17.619-05:00

So some government officials in both countries are advocating that the US/UK governments should sell arms to those who oppose Qaddafi Duck if he won't leave office. How'd that work in Afghanistan with the Mujaheddin, anyway? That's not to say that everyone must be bound by every possible historical analogy; it's only to say that historical analogies provide guidance, particularly in the

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-82571188149853663262011-03-28T13:41:00.005-05:002011-03-28T15:19:07.088-05:00

Now that Spring Break is over, perhaps I can get back to some work. After I get over the germs brought home from school by the younger remora and so generously shared, that is... Time for another Borders bankruptcy update. Now things that actually matter to authors are starting to get filed... First up, Borders management has filed a motion (Doc. 457) to continue to pay high salaries

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-46771898411158852412011-03-23T13:15:00.004-05:002011-03-28T15:19:56.957-05:00

The Settlement (in essay form)The Lawsuit (in essay form) So, Judge Chin (properly, IMNSHO) rejected the Amended Settlement Agreement (ASA)... Why Did He Reject It? Unfortunately, Judge Chin's opinion is not a model of clarity on this issue. There is no conclusion that says "x, but in the alternative y", or "for the combination of the above reasons," or "x, and in addition I would also consider

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-3889128204964130662011-03-22T17:29:00.007-05:002011-03-28T15:21:16.274-05:00

So, the wicked witch is dead: Judge Chin has rejected the Google Book Search settlement. I want to digest this before I make too many detailed pronouncements, but there's one huge "I told you so!" moment: While the named plaintiffs and Google would argue that these authors can simply opt out, the comments underscore certain points. First, many authors of unclaimed works undoubtedly share similar

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530154.post-44596005183143871942011-03-22T12:03:00.003-05:002011-03-22T12:14:29.933-05:00

In honor of the first day of spring, I offer a musical tribute to the season... Just a quick Borders bankruptcy update... The Economist has noticed — it's now officially An Event! Second, last week Judge Glenn signed a flurry of orders in the matter, uniformly rejecting the pro forma (and often substantively ridiculous) objections raised by various creditors, particularly the utilities

C.E. Petithttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06970221836704655630noreply@blogger.com