Valve has failed to convince a court that it didn't infringe EU law by geo-blocking activation keys, according to a new ruling. The company argued that, based on copyright law, publishers had the right to charge different prices for games in different countries. However, the EU General Court confirmed that its geo-blocking actions "infringed EU competition law"and that copyright law didn't apply."Copyright is intended only to ensure for the right holders concerned protection of the right to exploit commercially the marketing or the making available of the protected subject matter, by the grant of licences in return for payment of remuneration," it wrote in a statement. "However, it does not guarantee them the opportunity to demand the highest possible remuneration or to engage in conduct such as to lead to artificial price differences between the partitioned national markets."The original charges centered around activation keys. The commission said Valve and five publishers (Bandai Namco, Capcom, Focus Home, Koch Media and ZeniMax) agreed to use geo-blocking so that activation keys sold in some countries — like Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary and Latvia — would not work in other member states. That would prevent someone in, say, Germany buying a cheaper key in Latvia, where prices are lower. However, doing so violates the EU's Digital Single Market rules, which enforces an open market across the EU. The five developers were given a reduced fine of €7.8 million (over $9.4... Continue reading at 'Engadget'
[ Engadget | 2023-09-27 12:20:53 UTC ]
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Tributes have been paid to a “true friend” of literature, Ion Trewin, who died yesterday (8th April) at the age of 71. Trewin, who was literary director of the Booker Prize Foundation, was diagnosed with untreatable cancer last October. He leaves behind his wife Sue, son Simon, who is head of... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-04-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Borough Press has pre-empted a sequel to Allison Pearson's I Don't Know How She Does It in a "high six-figure" deal. Executive publisher for fiction and non-fiction Kate Elton signed UK and Commonwealth rights to the book from Caroline Michel at PFD. North American rights were signed by... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-04-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Today Turkey blocked access to a number of websites including YouTube and Twitter. The ban came after the sites published images of a prosecutor being taken hostage at a court in Istanbul earlier in the week. Google has vowed to getting things back up and running, but it's not the same story for... Continue reading at Betanews
[ Betanews | 2015-04-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Facebook tracks everyone who visits its site, including people who don’t have an account, and even continues to track users and non-users who have opted out of targeted ads, researchers at two Belgian universities have found.Researchers at the University of Leuven in cooperation with researchers... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2015-03-31 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Quarto Group has “started to deliver” after its reorganisation in 2013, c.e.o. Marcus Leaver said, as the company revealed profits grew in 2014. In 2013 the company rebranded Aurum Publishing Group as Quarto Publishing Group UK, while the Quayside Publishing Group became Quarto Publishing... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-03-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
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A new Wells Fargo Securities report put ad blocking right alongside viewability as a top challenge facing the digital publishing ecosystem.The report asked whether ad blocking is an existential threat or "just a 'Europe thing'" and netted out somewhere in the middle: "We believe the rapid rise... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2015-03-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Wimbledon BookFest is to start paying a fee of £150 each to all participating authors. This will be the first year the 10-day book festival has paid authors for appearing. Previously it only paid chairs of events. The announcement follows a story in The Bookseller in which a number of authors,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-03-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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E-books must be subject to the full rate of value-added tax (VAT), and European Union countries may not extend tax exemptions for books to include ebooks, the EU’s highest court ruled Thursday, adding that it considers downloadable ebooks to be services.Most EU member states, with the exception... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2015-03-05 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Yorkshire-based technology company Frog Education has acquired I Education, the owner of assessment tool I am Learning (IAL), in a deal worth more than £2m. Frog Education will integrate IAL, which is used in more than 1,000 schools, into its own services. Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-03-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Even if you've never heard of PlayBuzz, you've probably come across its end product. Its platform is behind such Facebook quizzes as "Which Disney Mom Are You?" and lists like "18 Photos That Prove That Online Dating Is Terrifying." The company, thanks to the virality of such content, has become... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2015-02-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
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With Poland's OpenBooks.com readers can download and read self-published books for free and decide to pay for them only if they want. The post OpenBooks: A Self-Publishing Bookstore Where You Read First, Pay Later appeared first on Publishing Perspectives. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2015-02-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Ad blocking technology presents a growing threat to digital publishers and ad-tech companies -- and they're starting to pay close attention.Ad blocking technology removes ads from the internet via a browser extension. There are a number of such extensions -- the two most notable being Adblock... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2015-02-13 00:00:00 UTC ]
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We aslked Dazed Group, News U.K., Mashable and Monrif Group what they think about the ominous subject of ad blocking. The post European publishers assess the threat of ad blocking appeared first on Digiday. Continue reading at Digiday
[ Digiday | 2015-02-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Tesco will close its ebooks service blinkbox Books at the end of February after talks with Waterstones to buy the platform broke down. All 60 core staff who work on the blinkbox Books platform are now expected to enter a consultation period over their jobs and are likely to be made... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-01-27 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Over the weekend a court in Turkey told Facebook to block several pages that had been deemed to insult the Prophet Mohammad. A court order was delivered to the social network with the threat that if Facebook failed to comply, the site would be completely blocked in Turkey. Turkey's banging of... Continue reading at Betanews
[ Betanews | 2015-01-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sonny Mehta has paid tribute to former colleague Simon Master [pictured], who died suddenly last week, with Mehta telling The Bookseller he felt “extremely privileged to have known him”. Master died on Friday (16th January) while on holiday, at the age of 70. He was formerly deputy group... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-01-23 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The French Publishers Association (Syndicat National de l’Edition, SNE) said in a statement this afternoon that it was “deeply upset” by today's terror attack against publication Charlie Hebdo and “freedom of the press, expression and right to publish, the foundations of democracy.” Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-01-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Condé Nast on Monday won a federal judge's preliminary approval to pay $5.85 million to settle a class-action lawsuit by thousands of former interns who claimed the magazine publisher underpaid them. Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2014-12-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Foyles has defended the wages of its staff after an online petition called on the company to pay booksellers the Living Wage. The petition at Change.org was set up today (11th December) by Lindsay Woods, who is campaigning for the six-store company to pay all its workers “at least the London... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2014-12-12 00:00:00 UTC ]
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After the failure of an ambitious Kickstarter campaign organized by Digital Manga Publishing to release the backlist of the late manga artist Osamu Tezuka, DMP has reconfigured its publishing program and plans to release the books over 20 years instead of Five years. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2014-12-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
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