Rights Management & Royalties

In a brief order this week, Judge Valerie Caproni ruled that the plaintiff publishers and Audible could redact the final amount to be paid under a settlement agreement filed earlier this month, but that other details must be made public if the parties wish the court to retain jurisdiction over the entire settlement.

“The public has a presumptive right to judicial documents,” Judge Valerie Caproni wrote in her brief order, giving the parties until February 21 to file, under seal, a copy of the settlement agreement with all proposed redactions highlighted.

Audible has agreed not to include the copyrighted works of AAP publishers in its “Captions” program without permission. Audible said it has no plan to move forward with "Captions" beyond its limited pilot with public domain works for students.

Although no details are yet available, attorneys for Audible and seven major publishers have told the court that they have resolved their issues.

In a letter to the court, Audible attorneys said the parties "have been engaged in earnest settlement discussions to address this complicated, multi-party dispute with potentially significant implications,” and asked for more time to finish an agreement.

Strong will step in while a permanent replacement is sought for Register of Copyrights Karyn Temple, who announced last week that she is leaving the Copyright Office to accept a new position at the Motion Picture Association.

Details remain murky, but this week the AAP issued a strong rebuke to an open access policy said to be under consideration by the Trump Administration.

Temple earned strong reviews over her eight years at the Copyright Office, including the last three years as its leader.

The 10-year-old copyright protection and enforcement platform uses AI-driven scanning technology to track copyright material online.

Audible attorneys this week asked for the case to be referred to a Magistrate judge for a settlement conference, but after the publisher plaintiffs rejected the idea, judge Valerie Caproni denied the request.