• GOOD NEWS!: PIRATE SITE KISS LIBRARY CLOSED BY USA COURT INJUNCTION – AND BLOCKS ALL SERVICE PROVIDERS INCLUDING ISP’S

    KISS LIBRARY ILLEGALLY OBTAINED COPIES OF BOOKS AND EBOOKS AND SOLD ON THEIR SITE – Piracy pure and simple   UPDATE : KISS Library has been shut down by order of a federal judge, due to its failure to respond to the lawsuit. The sweeping order effectively shuts down the operation in its current iteration, and seeks […]

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  • 2020 CLNZ/NZSA $5,000 Research Grants Awarded to Four Outstanding Projects

    The 2020 Copyright Licensing New Zealand and New Zealand Society of Authors Te Puni Kaituhi O Aotearoa (PEN NZ) Inc Research Grants have been awarded. The $5,000 grants support New Zealand writers who wish to undertake research for a fiction or non-fiction writing project. The judging panel received 55 applications and reported that the field […]

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  • 2020 CLNZ/NZSA $25,000 Writers’ Award has been won by Nick Bollinger

    Wellington writer Nick Bollinger has won the 2020 Copyright Licensing New Zealand and New Zealand Society of Authors Te Puni Kaituhi O Aotearoa (PEN NZ)inc, $25,000 Writers’ Award for his project Revolutions Per Minute: The Counterculture in New Zealand 1960-1975. The resulting book project will include over 100 relevant illustrations and will tell the story […]

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  • US Publishers, Authors, Booksellers Call Out Amazon’s ‘Concentrated Power’ in the Book Market

    By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson ‘Extraordinary Leverage’ In a letter provided to Publishing Perspectives this morning (August 17), three leading American publishing industry professional organizations tell the House of Representatives’ Antitrust Subcommittee that “a few tech platforms in the digital marketplace” wield “extraordinary leverage over their competitors, suppliers, customers, the government, and the public. “Regrettably,” they write, […]

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  • Internet Archive Will End Its Program for Free E-Books

    The nonprofit has said its National Emergency Library was a public service to people unable to access libraries during the pandemic, but publishers and authors accused it of theft. Brewster Kahle is the founder of Internet Archive, which announced plans to close its National Emergency Library next week.Credit…Lianne Milton for The New York Times By Elizabeth […]

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  • Update on Review of NZ Copyright Legislation – attn all writers

    On July 8th we received correspondence from MBIE on the Review of the Copyright Act, the message is copied below. This comes on the back of a concerted effort by the publishing, music and screen industries to demonstrate the problems with the November 2019 paper and the revised objectives. We were delighted to secure the […]

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  • COPYRIGHT AND PIRACY – USA AUTHORS GUILD, AMAZON AND PENGUIN RANDOM LAUNCH SUIT

    Top-visibility Authors Guild members join with Amazon Publishing and Penguin Random House in a suit alleging KISS is ‘illegally copying, distributing, and selling works written or published by the plaintiffs.’ In Feature Articles by Porter Anderson Image – iStockphoto: Artisteer Twelve of the Authors Guild’s biggest names are serving as marquee plaintiffs on a new court action filed […]

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  • Copyright review update

    Copyright review update   Jenny Nagle and Mandy Hager met with Kris Faafoi, the Minister responsible for the Copyright Review, last week. They were accompanied by Paula Browning (pictured) and Pat Walsh from CLNZ and Tom Rennie and Julia Marshall from PANZ. This meeting was our long-awaited opportunity to present the industry’s strong concerns regarding […]

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  • CREATECH UK CEO, CogXspeech – The relationship between creative and tech is more important than ever…

    8 June 2020 (Transcript of the speech, exactly as it was delivered) Caroline Dinenage’s keynote speech at the CogX Createch Stage Thank you for that introduction, and many thanks for inviting me to speak here today. I’m delighted to be participating in Createch 2020 at CogX.  Let me start by saying two things: First, that […]

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  • How the Government forces authors to give books to people with disability, but refuses to pay for them

    Jun 02 2020   OPINION: The Government this year signed an international treaty to give free access to books for people with a disability who can’t handle print copies. Few would argue about increasing opportunities for those with a disability. But, Kiwi authors won’t be compensated for taking their work and giving it away free. […]

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  • AAP Member-Publishers File Copyright Infringement Suit Against Internet Archive – long overdue lawsuit!

      Alleging ‘a profound disrespect for the value chain of copyright,’ the Association of American Publishers goes to court over the Internet Archive’s ‘National Emergency Library’ and ‘Open Library.’   Image – iStockphoto: Light Scribe Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief AAP: Internet Archive ‘Bludgeons the Legal Framework’ Today (June 1), four publisher-members of the Association of American Publishers—including […]

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  • BUDGET 2020 Libraries to help with jobs and community recovery 27/5/2020

    The Minister said that the package also includes a 20% increase to the Public Lending Right fund – the money that is paid to New Zealand authors that have books available through our public libraries. The $1.6 million extra over four years is the first increase to the fund since 2008.   LIANZA President, Rachel […]

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