Amazon recently announced a new commercial publishing platform that will allow any writer to create fan fiction based on original stories and characters. Amateur writers will have access to characters inspired by a number of successful books via an agreement with Warner Bros. Television Group’s Allow Entertainment division. … Read More
Apple Fights Back in Antitrust Case Over E-Book Prices
Amazon and five other publishing companies were already contemplating a move to a different pricing model before Apple entered the e-book business, Apple says in its defense against an antitrust lawsuit accusing it of conspiring to fix prices on electronic books,. … Read More
Côte d’Ivoire – Newspaper publisher freed after more than a year in detention
Reporters Without Borders is relieved to learn that newspaper publisher Ousmane Sy Savané was finally released on 3 May, World Press Freedom Day, after being held for just over 13 months on a charge of endangering state security. However, his release is only provisional, and Reporters Without Borders joins the National Union of Côte d’Ivoire Journalists (UNJCI) in calling for his definitive release. The CEO of the Cyclone publishing house, Savané had been held since 27 March 2012. “We welcome (…) … Read More
Existential cat Henri contemplates freedom from ‘unabashed exploitation’ in new video
For once, Henri the Existential Cat actually seems to be in a (relatively) good mood in his latest video diary. “I’ve finally freed myself from subjugation by publishing a book of my philosophical ideas,” he tells viewers, silently enjoying the fact that “for the first…
The Pirate Bay Moves to .SX as Prosecutor Files Motion to Seize Domains
Swedish prosecutor Fredrik Ingblad has filed a motion at the District Court of Stockholm, requesting for the seizure of thepiratebay.se, piratebay.se and the new thepiratebay.is domains.
The move comes just a few days after the infamous BitTorrent site switched to the Iceland-based domain, following suspicions that the Swedish authorities would go after the .se domains.
“There is widespread copyright infringement linked to these sites and these domains are used to assist in connection with crime,” Ingblad writes in today’s complaint.
The complaint was filed on behalf of several major movie, music and publishing companies. The Swedish domain registry and the domain registrants, including Pirate Bay co-founder Fredrik Neij, are listed as defendants in the case.
The prosecutor did not explain why the authorities are taking action now. The Pirate Bay has been operating from the .se domain name for over a year and could have easily been targeted before.
The Internet Infrastructure Foundation, responsible for operating the .se TLD, says it will consider its options when a court order comes in. The foundation previously noted that domain names are not the source of the problem as they are easily traded in for new ones.
“We believe the problem in this type of situation is not the domain, but rather its contents. The domain name itself is not an accomplice in act of copyright infringement and if thepiratebay.se, for example, were to be shut down, the site would almost certainly reopen under another top-level domain.”
Last week Iceland’s domain registry told TorrentFreak that it would not proactively suspend a domain, and that it would only take action when an Icelandic Court asks them to.
“Such an action would require a formal order from an Icelandic court. ISNIC is not responsible for a registrant’s usage of their domains,” ISNIC’s Marius Olafsson told TorrentFreak.
However, in today’s complaint the Swedish prosecutor suggests that the court has jurisdiction over the .is domain because it is registered to Fredrik Neij, who has Swedish nationality.
But in a lightning quick response The Pirate Bay has already switched to a new domain, ThePirateBay.sx. The .sx ccTLD is for Sint Maarten, a tiny island in the northeast Caribbean located 190 miles east of Puerto Rico.
Control of the island, which has just 78,000 residents, is split between France and the Netherlands. Around 41,000 live on the Dutch side and 37,000 on the French. TorrentFreak has contacted the local domain registrar for comment.
Earlier today the news broke that a new criminal investigation into The Pirate Bay is ongoing, with co-founder Gottfrid Svartholm being questioned in prison last week. Whether today’s domain seizure motion is related to this case is unknown.
Even if the court grants the prosecutor’s request it remains to be seen how effective any seizures will be. Time and again the BitTorrent site has responded by relocating to new domains.
Source: The Pirate Bay Moves to .SX as Prosecutor Files Motion to Seize Domains
James Patterson speaks out about his aggressive “book industry bailout” ads
James Patterson is in no need of a bailout.The author of bestsellers including “Along Came a Spider” and “Suzanne’s Diary for Nicholas” currently occupies spots on four different New York Times bestseller lists with three discrete books. (Those would be “Alex Cross, Run”; “Now You See Her,” written with Michael Ledwidge; and “I, Michael Bennett,” written with Ledwidge also.)Despite his success in a strain of genre fiction not often recommended in classrooms, Patterson has become, suddenly, the closest thing the publishing industry has to an ambassador. The multimillion-seller author placed an ad last weekend in the New York Times Book Review and in Publishers Weekly (depicted below) advocating for government intervention — the same sort of bailout Goldman got — in order to save an industry besieged by bookstore closings and consolidation of the few remaining major publishing houses.Continue Reading… … Read More
David Axelrod to write a memoir
David Axelrod, former political adviser to Bill Clinton and Barack Obama’s chief strategist in 2008 and 2012, is writing a memoir.From the New York Times:Mr. Axelrod is looking to write more than a dishy White House tell-all. Penguin says that the book will cover his entire career from his early years as journalist in Chicago, through his decades as a political strategist. Mr. Axelrod has had close relationships with controversial figures like John Edwards, the former senator from North Carolina, and Rod R. Blagojevich, the former governor of Illinois, who will make appearances in the book. The book is due out by Penguin Press in 2014.Continue Reading… … Read More
