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Harper Collins Sues Gawker Over Palin Book Excerpts
By
Jen Chung
Published Nov 20, 2010
Modified Nov 20, 2010
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By
Jen Chung
Published Nov 20, 2010
Modified Nov 20, 2010
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Earlier this week, Gawker published excerpts of Sarah Palin's upcoming book, America By Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith and Flag. Well, the former Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential candidate was not happy about it, Tweeting, "The publishing world is LEAKING out-of-context excerpts of my book w/out my permission? Isn't that illegal?" to which Gawker responded with links to Wikipedia's fair use entry and Stanford's copyright and fair use information. Still, News. Corp-owned publisher Harper Collins has sued Gawker on behalf its bestselling Mama Grizzly, asking that the website be banned from "further copyright infringement."
What's more, Harper Collins wants the source material that Gawker made scans from so it can be destroyed and is also asking for financial damages. According to the AP, Gawker "was not the first site to publish excerpts from the book, which has been billed as a tribute to American values, but it refused to take them down after receiving a letter demanding that it do so, the lawsuit said." Gawker, which called the book a "memoir/manifesto," offered commentary like, "Palin posits that her chaste reality star daughter is a better role model than the fictitious Murphy Brown, a single mother who was a total slut."
Palin's furor has prompted some bemused/frightened reaction from at least one notable conservative. The AP, which bought its own copy of the book (even though the book isn't officially on sale until next Tuesday, offered its summary today: "Sarah Palin takes on popular culture, revives talk of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and finds fault with JFK's famous religion speech, saying he 'seemed to want to run away' from his faith. Who gets praise? Simon Cowell, and the movies 'Juno,' 'Knocked Up' and 'The 40-Year-Old Virgin.'" Obama 0, Homeslice 1.
Tagged
conservative
excerpt
fair use
gawker
harper collins
lawsuit
mama grizzly
publishing
sarah palin
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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