Association of American Publishers

The Executive Director of the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF) Nick Bogaty speaks with Book Business Extra about the International Digital Publishing Forum’s (IDPF) work to help standardize digital publishing. In late November, the trade association joined forces with the Association of American Publishers (AAP) to help educate book publishers on the background of the new industrywide technical standards IDPF is introducing for digital content delivery. Book Business Extra: From what you saw at November’s meeting at the AAP, how are book publishers catching on to the standardization of eBooks? Nick Bogaty: Publishers, especially trade publishers, have long created their XML eBooks

The International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF), the standards and trade association for digital publishing, joined forces with the Association of American Publishers (AAP) this week to help educate book publishers on the background of the new industry-wide technical standards for digital content delivery. The IDPF’s new digital standard for packaging a digital publication, including the contents of the publication, metadata, signatures, encryption, rights and other information, into one standard file were formally introduced Wednesday to publishing leaders by the association during a meeting at the AAP’s New York offices. The registration was limited to 50 attendees for the event. According to the IDPF, its Open eBook

Google suffered another setback in its efforts to defend its digital book library when rival Yahoo declined to provide information to assist with an upcoming copyright infringement lawsuit revolving around its digital-book scanning program. Yahoo responded to a Google subpoena and objected to providing information for two upcoming court battles Google will face against the Author’s Guild and McGraw-Hill Companies. The plaintiffs accuse Google of digitizing material without prior consent from the copyright holder. Google had hoped to gain information about how its competitors had undertaken similar projects. Yahoo said in its Nov. 20 filling to the United States District Court in the Northern District of

Amazon.com balked at rival Google Inc.’s request for book scanning data, when it responded this week that it would not provide information the search engine giant had requested via subpoena earlier this month. According to published reports by the Associated Press, Amazon, the world’s largest online retailer, filed its objections Monday to the subpoena it was served on Oct. 6. Claiming that revealing the information would expose trade secrets, Amazon was not willing to cooperate. The Seattle-based online book retailer offers “Search Inside,” a feature that offers customers the ability to search inside of select books that publishers have agreed to show potential purchasers. Google

Another chapter in the battle for book search dominance was written last week as Google issued additional subpoenas to other major book search players in a bid for information the company believes could be used in its future legal battles. According to published reports this week by Bloomberg, the Mountain View, Calif.-based company filed paper on Oct. 5 in U.S. District Court to seek information from Amazon.com, Microsoft and Yahoo about each of the rival book searches for future use in several lawsuits Google faces. The world’s largest online retailer (Amazon), largest software producer (Microsoft) and most-popular U.S. Web site (Yahoo) have all announced or

Google’s controversial campaign to scan and digitalize library collections for online viewing on its Internet search engine continues to raise objections and claims of piracy from the publishing world. According to the Agence France-Presse news agency, another publishing group--this time French publisher La Martiniere--filed suit Tuesday against the Internet giant for indexing the company’s titles without first obtaining permission. La Martiniere, owner of France’s Le Seuil, Switzerland’s Delachaux and Niestle, and the United States’ Harry N. Abrams, contends that even if the company is only showing portions of a work online, it still constitutes an infringement of copyright. More than 100 La Martiniere books have

December marked the opening of the third round of the triennial rule-making process mandated by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). The DMCA was established in 1998 to encourage investment in new means of digital distribution of software, movies, books, sound recordings, video games and other works protected by copyright. The rule-making process is a period where copyright industry groups can review and respond to proposals for temporary exemptions from the provision of the DMCA, which prohibits the circumvention of technologies used to control access to copyrighted materials. The industry groups are comprised of the Association of American Publishers, the Business Software Alliance, the

The one thing that remains constant in the book publishing industry is change. That seems to be the underlying response from book publishing industry leaders interviewed by Book Business magazine in various market segments—trade, educational, professional, scientific, technical and medical, university presses among others. These top executives describe the challenges they foresee in the industry, and their strategies for making the years ahead profitable: • William J. Pesce, president and CEO, John Wiley & Sons Inc. • Lisa Holton, president, Scholastic Trade Books and Book Fairs • Philip Shaw, managing director, Elsevier Science and Technology Books • Eric Beck, vice president of sales and marketing, Continental

No region in the world is safe from piracy. That's the conclusion of Patricia Judd, executive director of international copyright enforcement and trade policy at the Association of American Publishers (AAP) in Washington, D.C. "Piracy is a worldwide phenomenon," Judd says. The AAP estimates losses to its members of more than $600 million a year in about 67 markets across the globe. As more book publishers explore their offshore book manufacturing options, foreign book manufacturers are boosting efforts to lure American publishers. It's all in the name of lowering costs. But does this offshore manufacturing activity put publishers at an increased risk of

Book publishers are keeping their fingers crossed that 2005 will be the year the industry shakes off the period of stagnation that has coincided with the U.S. economic downturn. The domestic market continued to remain essentially flat in 2004, but industry insiders are hopeful that the market will soon show growth. The shift toward more flexible production schedules, and resurgence in educational and reference titles will likely be the engines that drive any industry upswing. Another trend in 2005 will be publishers aiming to enhance profitability by leveraging the cost benefits of digital printing and international sourcing. Setting the Stage for Growth