Blog Assignment #7 : AAP concerns

Publishers Ask Supreme Court to Bar Unauthorized Importation of Foreign Manufactured Copyrighted Works

     Today(September 8) in Washington, DC.,  The Association of American Publishers is pushing the U.S. Supreme Court to maintain a ruling by the Ninth Circuit which held that the “first sale doctrine” does not apply to the permitted importation into the U.S. of copyrighted works that are manufactured overseas.. AAP’s arguments were put forward in a friend-of-the-court brief filed late yesterday in Costco Wholesale Corporation v. Omega, S.A.

Publishers Express Concern over Government Mandates on Journal Articles

   The Association of American Publishers warned today that government mandates requiring free access to journal articles published by the private sector would seriously undermine scientific communication, as well as U.S. jobs, exports and copyright protection. In testimony before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Allan Adler, AAP’s Vice President for Legal and Government Affairs, stressed that efforts to impose mandates were based on lack of understanding of the distinction between the “research” that is funded by the Federal government and the private-sector journal articles that validate and document the process, findings and significance of that research.

Publishers Cheer Senate Passage of Libel Tourism Bill

    The Association of American Publishers and the U.S. book publishing industry cheered today’s Senate passage of bi-partisan legislation that will protect American authors and publishers from foreign libel judgments that undermine First Amendment free speech rights. “We’re very pleased with the Senate’s action,” said Judith Platt, AAP’s director of Freedom to Read. “As we told Congress, these foreign libel judgments not only deprive American authors and publishers of their right to speak, they deprive our citizenry of their right to be informed. The legislation passed today will significantly reduce that chilling effect.”

AAP Reports 11.8% Increase in Book Sales through April

    The Adult Hardcover category was up 49.2% percent in April compared to last year with sales of $142.9 million; sales through April are up by 16.2% percent. Adult Paperback sales increased 19.6 percent for the month ($128.2 million) and increased by 19.4 percent for the year. Adult Mass Market sales decreased 17.7 percent for April with sales totaling $49.1 million; sales were down by 6.3 percent through April. Hardcover Children’s/YA sales declined 11.2 percent for the month with sales of $40.5 million; sales through April are down by 30.2 percent. Children’s/YA Paperback sales decreased 0.8 percent in April with sales totaling $39.9 million; sales fell 6.1 percent through April.