Apple to begin paying $400 million to consumers in price-fixing settlement - June 22, 2016
Beginning June 21, 2016, millions of e-book purchasers will receive credits and checks for twice their losses following an antitrust lawsuit filed against Apple Inc. and five of the nation’s largest publishing companies for their roles in an alleged e-book price-fixing scheme, according to Hagens Berman,… Read More
AAP joins other US creative industries urging the US government for sustained engagement with China and Canada - February 9, 2016
The Association of American Publishers (AAP) joined with other US creative industries, whose products and services are protected by copyright laws, to ask the US government for sustained engagement with Canada and China, among other markets. The submission by the International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) on… Read More
Nanobiomedicine journal indexed in DOAJ - December 30, 2015
Nanobiomedicine is now officially indexed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). DOAJ is an online directory that provides access to high quality, open access, peer-reviewed journals. Its main goal is to increase the visibility and ease of use of open access scientific and scholarly… Read More
EBLIDA and IFLA comment on European Commission’s Communication on modernising EU copyright rules - December 11, 2015
The European Bureau of Library, Information and Documentation Associations (EBLIDA), and the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), have welcomed the Communication of the European Commission towards a modern, more European copyright framework released December 9, 2015. European cultural diversity, education and research… Read More
U.S. Court backs Google Book-Scanning Project, says it’s legal under fair use - October 20, 2015
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled October 16 that Google's massive project to make digital copies of tens of millions of books does not violate copyright laws. The Authors Guild had accused Google of copyright infringement by scanning… Read More
Cengage Learning, McGraw-Hill and Pearson Education sue textbook reseller - August 17, 2015
Three major education publishers - Cengage Learning, McGraw-Hill and Pearson Education - this week filed a copyright and trademark infringement suit against a US-based textbook reseller for allegedly importing and selling 'pirated' foreign editions of popular textbooks. … Read More
SPARC applauds Senate Committee action on public access legislation - July 30, 2015
The Senate Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs Committee (HSGAC) has passed S. 779, the Fair Access to Science and Technology Research (FASTR) Act, unanimously by voice vote and moved it to the full Senate for consideration. This marks the first time the Senate has acted on… Read More
Ukrainian authors and writers criticise new state open access initiative - July 29, 2015
Ukrainian writers and authors are reportedly on the verge of massive protests, due to a recent initiative of the Ukrainian Parliament (Verkhovna Rada) to conduct digitalisation and online publishing of all of the books and documents stored in the national archives and libraries. According to an official spokesman of… Read More
IFLA expresses concern over extension of copyright terms - July 21, 2015
Members of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) have expressed their concern over the recent copyright changes in Jamaica and Canada that extend the term of copyright protection. A rich public domain and fair access to copyright protected material enhances creativity and the… Read More
European Commission opens formal antitrust investigation into Amazon’s e-book distribution arrangements - June 16, 2015
The European Commission has opened a formal antitrust investigation into certain business practices by Amazon in the distribution of electronic books ("e-books"). The Commission will in particular investigate certain clauses included in Amazon's contracts with publishers. These clauses require publishers to inform Amazon about more favourable… Read More
