<div>On 9/29/06, <a href="mailto:jthorn65@sbcglobal.net">jthorn65@sbcglobal.net</a> <<a href="mailto:jthorn65@sbcglobal.net">jthorn65@sbcglobal.net</a>> wrote: <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">On 29 Sep 2006 at 16:32, Doug Henwood wrote: > Like I said, a book like that is supposed to be kept under seal until > release date. Obviously the seal was porous, so it'd be interesting > to know how it happened. > > Long ago The Nation got sued for breaking an embargo on, hmm, was it > Gerald Ford's memoirs or something. The suit got thrown out, but it > was a bit of a coup for the NYT to get a copy.</blockquote><div> The case was a copyright case....  and it was called  Harper and Row v. Nation Enterprises 471 U.S. 539 (1985), if any one is interested.  What Harper hit the Nation for was extensive quotation of the book and thus they claimed that the Nation violated their copyright.  The Nation claimed that this was a newsworthy item and they were engaged in fair use.  The court concluded that "fair use" narrows for an unpublished work.  Since Ford's book was not yet "officially" published Ford's right to control the publication of substantial portions of his work was violated. If you will notice the New York Times piece avoids this problem by not quoting in any substantial way from Woodward's book. Thus as far as I can tell there were no laws broken here.  But the contract between the bookstore and Woodward's publishers was probably broken if an agent of a bookstore actually sold the book.  Jerry </div> <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">I'm surprised this doesn't happen more. I've had a copy of this book since Wed. the 20th but I haven't made a point to get to it yet. Woodward isn't a high priority for me. I received the book free since it was damaged and headed for the trashcan. A B&N employee I know thought it looked "like something I would read" and gave it to me rather than add it to the local landfill. I receive a large number of books with minimal damage this way. Officially the company forbids this practice but in reality it happens quite a bit.</blockquote><div> John as a former employee of B & N I think that you should have been less specific here.  The contract between B & N and Woodward publishers was broken by simply opening the box, damaged or not.  If B & N gets sued you could be called upon to testify and I doubt you would be able to claim press privleges because actually you are receiver of stolen goods.  Listen I am on your side here I am just hoping that we can be discrete to protect our friends, just in case.  </div> <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">I'm sure an employee of B&N or Borders would be happy to sneak a copy out for $200. The books aren't locked up or anything. They just sit on a few shelves or stacked in boxes in a receiving area. On rare occasion an employee will shelve the book early because they had a space to fill and didn't pay attention to the signs listing a shelving date for a title. The people actually responsible for keeping the strict on-sale date are the lowest paid employees along the books path to the consumers hand. That's why I'm surprised it doesn't happen more. John Thornton ___________________________________ <a href="http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk">http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/mailman/listinfo/lbo-talk</a> </blockquote></div> -- Jerry Monaco's Philosophy, Politics, Culture Weblog is Shandean Postscripts to Politics, Philosophy, and Culture <a href="http://monacojerry.livejournal.com/">http://monacojerry.livejournal.com/</a> His fiction, poetry, weblog is Hopeful Monsters: Fiction, Poetry, Memories <a href="http://www.livejournal.com/users/jerrymonaco/">http://www.livejournal.com/users/jerrymonaco/</a> Notes, Quotes, Images - From some of my reading and browsing <a href="http://www.livejournal.com/community/jerry_quotes/"> http://www.livejournal.com/community/jerry_quotes/</a>