Harlan Ellison has filed a lawsuit claiming that the upcoming FOX film In Time is a copyright infringement of his Hugo and Nebula Award-winning story “‘Repent, Harlequin!’ Said The Ticktockman.” The lawsuit seeks an injunction to prevent the film’s release and the disposal of all copies of the film.
Author and Dragon*Con founder Ed Kramer was arrested in Milford, CT and charged him with misdemeanor reckless endangerment of a child after he was found staying in a hotel with a fourteen year old boy. Kramer was in violation of the conditions of his bond from a previous arrest on allegations of child molestation, first made in 2000. Kramer’s bond has been revoked and he faces extradition to Georgia.
The courts dismissed a charge of plagiarism against J.K. Rowling by the estate of Adrian Jacobs after the estate failed to post a £1.5 million security bond. Jacobs’s executor, Paul Allen, first charged Rowling with plagiarizing Jacobs’s book The Adventures of Willy the Wizard in 2004. The court had ordered the estate to post a bond to cover 65% of the costs faced by Rowling and her publisher, Bloomsbury, in case the estate did not prevail. The estate’s inability to post the bond eventually ended the case.
The case against Joel Rosenberg for felony dangerous weapon at a courthouse and misdemeanor contempt of court stemming from a November 2010 incident has been dropped following Rosenberg’s May 2011 death. A Memorial for Rosenberg and benefit for his family is scheduled to take place in Minneapolis on June 26.
NIAD Management is suing Orson Scott Card for commissions due from the film and web adaptations of Ender’s Game. When Card signed with NIAD in 2006, the contract specifically noted that they would not receive commissions on the Ender’s Game film optioned by Warner Bros. When the Warners option expired in 2008, the project was shopped to other studios and NIAD claims that the exclusion clause only applies to the project made by Warners, not subsequent projects.
At a preliminary hearing on May 2, Joel Rosenberg’s trial date for his December 8, 2010 arrest on felony dangerous weapon at a courthouse and misdemeanor contempt of court was set. Rosenberg’s lawyers argued that City Hall is not a courthouse, but merely contained a single room which was used as a courtroom. Rosenberg’s trial will begin on August 8.
Judge Denny Chin has rejected the Google Books Settlement, saying that the search engine’s agreement was too broad and “would arguably give Google control over the search market” for books. The agreement between Google and the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers was dismissed without prejudice, which means that Google and the organizations can revise the agreement and resubmit it in a way that gives better protection to copyright owners.
Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter, who has also gone by the names “Clark Rockefeller,” “Christopher Crowe,” and “Christopher Chichester,” has been charged with the 1985 murder of LA fan and LASFS member Jonathan Sohus. Gerhartsreiter, who was using the Chichester name at the time, was a tenant of Sohus and his wife, Linda. Both Jonathan and Linda disappeared in 1985, but only Jonathan’s remains have been found.
Borders Books and Music filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on February 16. It plans to close about 30% of its stores over the next several weeks. The Chapter 11 filing allows Borders to reorganize its operations while it seeks new capital.
A dinner to raise money for the Joel Rosenberg Legal Defense Fund will be held on Sunday, January 2 at 6:30 at the AmericInn Chanhassen in Chanhassen, Minnesota. The dinner is limited to 40 attendees, but donations can be made by those not attending as well. Rosenberg was arrested earlier this month and charged with possession of a dangerous weapon in a courthouse and contempt of court.