case studies

 

Below is a selection of recent work that we have handled on behalf of our clients in the publishing sector:

 

 Publishing
  • We advised a magazine publisher in relation to the worldwide exploitation of exclusive rights to the first pictures of the Austrian girl held captive for eight years, Natascha Kampusch. We advised on the exploitation of rights and related publishing contracts and on protecting the copyright in the images in the UK

 

  • We advised an international academic publisher on plagiarism. The work involved investigating claims made by rival authors of wrongful plagiarism of their content. However, this proved different from classical piracy, in which an entire work is copied, and involved more tricky issues of use of research data, academic integrity, and libel issues.  In one such instance the argument was more about the intellectual property arising from funding of research, and became an issue of research grants.

 

  • We advised a leading publisher on issues including perpetual access for their new generation academic journal agreements with learned societies. Perpetual access is the term given to the user rights in electronic content to be in perpetuity, as opposed to the traditional publishing model for online and site licences limited in time.

 

  • An organisation wanted to publish its journal online.  We provided a standard electronic licence and also negotiated a contract with an online intermediary to publish online.

 

  • The founding shareholders in a publishing business wanted to sell their majority stake.  The acquirer wanted to retain their services for a two-year period.  The sale needed to be handled in the most tax efficient way.  We were able to sell their stake in the business on very attractive terms.

 

  • A publisher wanted to sell advertising space related to key title on its website.  We assisted in negotiating terms for the development and promotion of the site with its developer and also advised on the regulatory issues.

 

  • We advised a political party in respect of a politically sensitive and high profile libel claim arising from publication of a controversial article. Defences of justification and qualified privilege were run and the case was settled out of court with minimal publicity.