Legal News

New York’s governor Kathy Hochul vetoed a State Assembly bill that would have forced publishers to license ebooks to libraries. She said:

While the goal of this bill is laudable, unfortunately, copyright protection provides the author of a work with the exclusive right to their works. As such, federal law would allow the author, and only the author, to determine to whom they wish to share their work and on what terms. Because the provisions of this bill are preempted by federal copyright law, I can­not support this bill.

Association of American Publishers president Maria Pallante said:

The Governor has affirmed that New York has a deep appreciation and enduring respect for the cultural and economic contributions of authors and publishers, and a clear understanding that our public libraries also depend upon a vibrant creative economy…. The bill that she vetoed was rushed through the state legislature in response to a coordinated, misinformation campaign sup­ported by Big Tech interests and lobbying groups that are notorious for wanting to weaken copyright protections for their own gain.

A similar bill in Maryland is currently being challenged in court by the AAP.


See this listing and more like it in the February 2022 issue of Locus.

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