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For more than 90 minutes this afternoon, Judge Koeltl of the United States District Court of the Southern District of New York heard oral arguments in the copyright infringement suit, Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins Publishers, John Wiley & Sons, and Penguin Random House v. Internet Archive.  We now await the decision of the Court, noting that it has before it an extensive record of law and facts that we believe support the position of the publisher plaintiffs and the authors that they represent.

In several filings, the publishers have documented the considerable and consistent precedent—in multiple circuits—against unauthorized copying and public distribution, particularly when it comes to transmitting entire creative works to members of the worldwide public without a license for the same purpose the works were originally published and in direct competition with established markets. 

At stake are the livelihoods of authors and the statutory incentives and protections that make creative works possible in the first place.  

Here are some key points made by publishers’ counsel and/or amicus curiae in the litigation thus far, including in oral arguments today:

- The defendant is engaged in an enterprise of digital theft.  Its mass scanning of print books—and public display and distribution of those bootleg eBooks— are in direct contravention of the Copyright Act.  It has blatantly accelerated its infringement in the two years since the case was filed.

- By engaging in massive and uncompensated “format-shifting” from print books to eBooks, the Internet Archive is robbing authors of their legal right to separately license the various and evolving formats that Congress intended.

- The Copyright Act serves the public interest by granting economic incentives to authors.  Those incentives are in the form of copyright interests that they can market and monetize, including by granting their publication rights to publishers.  Authors are central to the public purpose of the law.

- The Copyright Act is clear that the author’s right to determine public distribution includes the transmission of digital formats to members of the public who are accessing their works at different locations and different times, such as when a library patron accesses a digital book from the comfort of their own home.  The publishers invested heavily in developing digital innovations, which result from confidence in the lawful marketplace, not mass infringement.

- The defendant erroneously insists it is only doing what libraries have always done.  But libraries routinely license digital eBooks and do not manufacture eBooks themselves.

- The harm to authors and publishers is self-evident: the defendant both refuses to pay the fees that libraries customarily pay to provide precisely the same service and offers a competing substitute for the Publishers’ eBooks.  Each lost sale results in a direct loss of income for authors. 

- If left unchecked, the defendant’s conduct would cause substantial losses and seriously imperil Publishers’ ability to publish new books, support authors with a reliable stream of royalties and invest in new publishing technologies like authorized library eBooks.

- Its practice is not covered by statutory library exceptions, which allow qualified libraries to reproduce and distribute works under specific narrowly tailored conditions, and only when there is no indirect commercial advantage or interference with functional markets.

- The Internet Archive created out of whole cloth a legal fiction they refer to as “Controlled Digital Lending.”   But the Defendant is not a legislative body and cannot simply make its own rules.

- The Internet Archive’s practice may start here with books, but by extension, could quickly threaten motion pictures, music, software, video games, and other works that enrich our society.   For example, the catalog of music and film available in digital format is not limited to works “born digital” but includes works from back catalogs of analog music and film productions that have been carefully digitized and preserved and are now available in the marketplace for the public to stream, license, or buy.

- It is feasible that the country’s entire network of libraries could join or supply the Internet Archive, permitting it and them to “lend” for free thousands of copies of the bestsellers from every artistic industry—books, music, film, and more—all to compete with lawfully made licensable digital works and streaming services.

- The infringing acts undertaken by IA will occur not only in the U.S., but also abroad—anywhere that an eBook is made available—regardless of whether it is accessed.

- Internet Archive is distributing all manner of works without permission — fantasy, romance, and more.  To the degree there is an educational component to the works they distribute, that is because of the contributions of the authors and publishers who created the works, not the defendant. 

 

Trade (Consumer Book) Revenues Up 3.1% for Month of January

The Association of American Publishers (AAP) today released its StatShot report for January 2023 reflecting reported revenue for Trade (Consumer Books), Higher Education Course Materials, and Professional Publishing. 

Total revenues across all reported categories for January 2023 were up 3.5% as compared to January 2022, coming in at $1.3 billion. 

Trade (Consumer Books) Revenues

Trade (Consumer Books) sales were up 3.1% in January, coming in at $754.9 million.

In terms of physical paper format revenues during the month of January, in the Trade (Consumer Books) category, Hardback revenues were up 0.3%, coming in at $264.0 million; Paperbacks were up 7.0%, with $276.9 million in revenue; Mass Market was down 35.7% to $12.4 million; and Special Bindings was down 2.1%, with $15.6 million in revenue.

eBook revenues were up 3.7% for the month as compared to January 2022 for a total of $85.0 million. Digital Audio was up 9.2% for January, coming in at $69.6 million in revenue. Physical Audio was down 11.7% coming in at $1.1 million.

Religious Presses

Religious press revenues were down 1.8% in January, coming in at $73.3 million. Hardback revenues were down 4.5% to $40.3 million in revenue, Paperback revenues were down 1.3% to $15.8 million, eBook revenues were down 2.2% coming in at $4.2 million, and Digital Audio revenues were up 9.5% at $2.9 million.

Higher Education

During January 2023 revenues from Higher Education Course Materials were $463.3 million, up 4.1% compared with January 2022. 

Professional Books

Professional Books, including business, medical, law, technical and scientific, were up 1.2% during the month, coming in at $43.8 million. 

AAP’s StatShot

AAP StatShot reports the monthly and yearly net revenue of publishing houses from U.S. sales to bookstores, wholesalers, direct to consumer, online retailers, and other channels. StatShot draws revenue data from approximately 1,240 publishers, although participation may fluctuate slightly from report to report. 

StatShot reports are designed to give ongoing revenue snapshots across publishing sectors using the best data currently available. The reports reflect participants’ most recent reported revenue for current and previous periods, enabling readers to compare revenue on both a month-to-month and year-to-year basis within a given StatShot report.

Monthly and yearly StatShot reports may not align completely across reporting periods, because: a) The pool of StatShot participants may fluctuate from report to report; and b) Like any business, it is common accounting practice for publishing houses to update and restate their previously reported revenue data. If, for example, a business learns that its revenues were greater in a given year than its reports first indicated, it will restate the revenues in subsequent reports to AAP, permitting AAP in turn to report information that is more accurate than previously reported.

“As many will write, Pat Schroeder was a principled and pioneering Member of Congress, where she used her ferocious legal chops, wit, and skill to advance issues that were often called women’s issues but were really about families or fighter pilots. The American publishing community is doubly lucky because in her second act, following elected service, she devoted her energy to protecting copyright and freedom of expression, serving as President and CEO of AAP for 12 years from 1997 to 2009.  Today, I am shattering a little glass in her honor.”

Princeton University Press, Scribner, Harvard University Press, and Cambridge University Press Honored with Excellence Awards

Top PROSE Awards Prize, The R.R. Hawkins Award, goes to Princeton University Press’ Spiderweb Capitalism: How Global Elites Exploit Frontier Markets

The Association of American Publishers (AAP) today announced the four Excellence winners of its annual PROSE Awards, which recognize best-in-class scholarly publications in four categories: Biological & Life Sciences, Humanities, Physical Sciences & Mathematics, and Social Sciences. 

AAP also announced that the program’s top prize, the prestigious R.R. Hawkins Award, has been awarded to Princeton University Press for Spiderweb Capitalism: How Global Elites Exploit Frontier Markets.

“We are delighted to announce that publications from Princeton University Press, Scribner, Harvard University Press, and Cambridge University Press have been chosen as Excellence Award winners in honor of their extraordinary contributions, and that Princeton University Press has been singled out for the season’s top-most honor, the R.R. Hawkins Awards,” commented Syreeta Swann, Chief Operating Officer at the Association of American Publishers.  “We are grateful to the PROSE judges who have worked tirelessly to identify the very best publications of the year, we thank all those who entered, and we congratulate our honorees.”

R.R. Hawkins Awards Winner

“The PUP team is perpetually grateful to be a member of the AAP community, publishers who inspire the very best of us, as do authors like Kimberly Hoang and books like Spiderweb Capitalism,” commented Christie Henry, Director, Princeton University Press. “We are celebrating this wonderful honor with profound gratitude for the PROSE Awards and judges, the incredible contributions of all of the publishers involved, and the collaborations enjoyed by and entrusted to us.”

“Princeton University Press’ Spiderweb Capitalism: How Global Elites Exploit Frontier Markets combines excellent storytelling, clear prose, and impressive academic research to create a truly compelling and enlightening narrative, making it the clear choice for this year’s R.R. Hawkins Award,” PROSE Chief Judge Nigel Fletcher-Jones, PhD, commented.

2023 PROSE Excellence Winners are as follows:

PROSE Award for Excellence in Social Sciences and R.R. Hawkins Award Winner

• Spiderweb Capitalism: How Global Elites Exploit Frontier Markets, Kimberly Kay Hoang, Princeton University Press 

PROSE Award for Excellence in Biological and Life Sciences

• The Song of the Cell: An Exploration of Medicine and the New Human, Siddhartha Mukherjee, Scribner  

PROSE Award for Excellence in Humanities 

• Necropolis: Disease, Power, and Capitalism in the Cotton Kingdom, Kathryn Olivarius, Harvard University Press 

PROSE Award for Excellence in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

• Cosmology, Daniel Baumann, Cambridge University Press 

About the PROSE Awards

Since 1976, the AAP’s PROSE Awards have recognized publishers who produce books, journals, and digital products of extraordinary merit that make a significant contribution to a field of study. 

During the 2023 PROSE cycle our panel of 25 PROSE judges reviewed 540 works to select the subsequent 105 finalists and 40 category winners. Of the 40 exceptional category winners, today’s Area for Excellence Award Winners and R.R. Hawkins Winner illustrate the extraordinary quality of scholarly publishing and contribute novel ideas to their respective areas of study.

More information about the 2023 PROSE Awards can be found here.

Trade (Consumer Book) Revenues Down 6.3% for Month of December, and Down 6.2% for Full Calendar Year

The Association of American Publishers (AAP) today released its StatShot report for December 2022 reflecting reported revenue for Trade (Consumer Books), Higher Education Course Materials, and Professional Publishing. The report does not include PreK-12 revenue due to delays in data collection.

Total revenues across all categories, excluding PreK-12, for December 2022 were down 10.0% as compared to December 2021, coming in at $995.9 million. Year-to-date revenues were down 6.4%, at $12.6 billion for the year of 2022.

Trade (Consumer Books) Revenues

Calendar 2022

Trade revenues were down 6.2%, at $9.1 billion for the calendar year. Hardback revenues were down 13.9%, coming in at $3.2 billion; Paperbacks were up 1.1%, with $3.3 billion in revenue; Mass Market was down 25.5% to $181.6 million; and Special Bindings were down 8.1%, with $206.4 million in revenue.

eBook revenues were down 6.6% as compared to 2021 for a total of $1.0 billion. The Downloaded Audio format was up 7.0%, coming in at $839.5 million in revenue. Physical Audio was down 29.8% coming in at $15.8 million.

December 2022

Trade (Consumer Books) sales were down 6.3% in December, coming in at $759.2 million.

In terms of physical paper format revenues during the month of December, in the Trade (Consumer Books) category, Hardback revenues were down 12.1%, coming in at $266.3 million; Paperbacks were down 1.3%, with $274.7 million in revenue; Mass Market was down 43.7% to $10.7 million; and Special Bindings were down 3.4%, with $20.7 million in revenue.

eBook revenues were down 10.2% for the month as compared to December 2021 for a total of $75.8 million. The Downloaded Audio format was up 6.8% for December, coming in at $72.5 million in revenue. Physical Audio was down 14.2% coming in at $1.2 million.

Religious Presses

Calendar 2022

For the calendar year 2022, religious press revenues were down 6.1%, reaching $757.7 million. Hardback revenues were down 6.6% at $452.5 million in revenue, Paperback revenues were down 9.7% to $126.3 million, eBook revenues were down 12.4% at $55.2 million, and Downloaded Audio revenues were up 5.6% at $42.0 million. 

December 2022

Religious press revenues were down 5.0% in December, coming in at $60.4 million. Hardback revenues were down 2.4% to $35.8 million in revenue, Paperback revenues were down 20.0% to $10.7 million, eBook revenues were down 9.8% coming in at $3.8 million, and Downloaded Audio revenues were up 14.7% at $3.1 million.

Education

Calendar 2022

Calendar year 2022 Higher Education Course Materials revenues were $2.9 billion, down 7.5% compared to 2021.

December 2022

During December 2022 revenues from Higher Education Course Materials were $163.6 million, down 27.0% compared with December 2021.

Professional Books

Calendar 2022

Professional Books revenues for calendar year 2022 were $457.4 million, down 5.5% as compared to 2021.

December 2022

Professional Books, including business, medical, law, technical and scientific, were down 19.4% during the month of December, coming in at $53.0 million

AAP’s StatShot

AAP StatShot reports the monthly and yearly net revenue of publishing houses from U.S. sales to bookstores, wholesalers, direct to consumer, online retailers, and other channels. StatShot draws revenue data from approximately 1,368 publishers, although participation may fluctuate slightly from report to report. 

StatShot reports are designed to give ongoing revenue snapshots across publishing sectors using the best data currently available. The reports reflect participants’ most recent reported revenue for current and previous periods, enabling readers to compare revenue on both a month-to-month and year-to-year basis within a given StatShot report.

Monthly and yearly StatShot reports may not align completely across reporting periods, because: a) The pool of StatShot participants may fluctuate from report to report; and b) Like any business, it is common accounting practice for publishing houses to update and restate their previously reported revenue data. If, for example, a business learns that its revenues were greater in a given year than its reports first indicated, it will restate the revenues in subsequent reports to AAP, permitting AAP in turn to report information that is more accurate than previously reported.