Publisher Sues University Librarian Over His Personal Blog Posts 126
McGruber writes "The Chronicle of Higher Education has the news that Herbert Richardson, founder of Edwin Mellen Press is suing McMaster University and University Librarian Dale Askey for $3 Million over Mr. Askey's posts on a personal blog. In 2010 Mr. Askey wrote a blog post about Edwin Mellen Press on his personal Web site, Bibliobrary. Mr. Askey referred to the publisher as 'dubious' and said its books were often works of 'second-class scholarship.' For a few months afterward, several people chimed in in the blog's comments section, some agreeing with Mr. Askey, others arguing in support of the publisher. In a February 11 statement, the McMaster University Faculty Association (MUFA) stated that The Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) 'and the MUFA Executive agree that this case represents a serious threat to the freedom of academic librarians (pdf) to voice their professional judgement and to academic freedom more generally.'"
Break out the anti-SLAPP! (Score:4, Insightful)
I think we have laws against these strategic lawsuits against public participation.
Re:Break out the anti-SLAPP -- and Striesand! (Score:5, Insightful)
The publisher's problem is that this isn't some nut-job that can just be dismissed out of hand. Dale Askey appears to have the qualifications to know exactly what he's talking about here so they have to try and shut him up. But suing McMaster University over the personal blog of one of their employees personal blog opinions is way beyond reasonable -- although that's probably either were the money is, or that they hope to punish Mr. Askey by getting the university to fire him as him being too much trouble to keep onboard.
Under all circumstances the publisher is wrong here. The proper course of action would have been for them to line up equally (apparently) qualified academicians on their side of the argument and let the book-buying institutions decide for themselves. It would seem that both sides of the argument were already being hashed out on the blog, and now arrives The Streisand Effect in spades!
Re:Break out the anti-SLAPP -- and Striesand! (Score:5, Informative)
The proper course of action would have been for them to line up equally (apparently) qualified academicians on their side of the argument and let the book-buying institutions decide for themselves. It would seem that both sides of the argument were already being hashed out on the blog, and now arrives The Streisand Effect in spades!
It would appear that this company's reputation is already well pretty [sspnet.org]. well [wikipedia.org] established [www.slaw.ca]
The nicest thing I have seen so far are the comments that say it is just one step above a vanity press.
Re:Break out the anti-SLAPP -- and Striesand! (Score:5, Insightful)
Librarians as a group tend to have pretty strong feelings about this sort of thing. If this publisher thought the blog post of one librarian might turn other librarians against them, they haven't seen anything like what this lawsuit will do.
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I would think if were a Head Liberarian, that simply avoiding Edwin Mellen Press products, would avoid imperiling my institution. My libarians wouldn't be able to critique Edwin Mellen Press, if they didn't have any.
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And the moment that a request came in from a library user for a book published by $PUBLISHER$ ... your attempt at escaping controversy fails.
Probably better to fight this one.
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True, but while there is no guarantee you will not sponatiously combust, that doesn't mean you should bathe in gasoline.
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Dale Askey appears to have the qualifications to know exactly what he's talking about here so they have to try and shut him up.
They have been given top notch advise for free, why do they "have" to interpret that as a existential threat? - Parinoia?
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1932-2011 Herbert Richardson III. He establishes The Edwin Mellen Press, fulfilling his fatherâ€(TM)s publishing aspirations. He names the Press to honor his grandfather.
Perhaps things got shaken up a bit after 2011? Maybe the guy who took over started off a nosedive, and now wants to find a scapegoat?
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Re:Break out the anti-SLAPP! (Score:5, Informative)
Loser Pays (Score:1)
In Canada we have a loser pays system. Helps prevents nonsense lawsuits if the instigator foots the bill for his and his opponent's bills.
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"This is Canada. Such a suit would likely never have been filed in the states."
I'm surprised that pleadings in Canada can be so lacking... No plaintiff's address.. how does one respond? No jurisdiction/venue claim(improperly assumed), etc..
Askey and McMaster University should immediately file a dismissal motion for lack of Jurisdiction [wikipedia.org] since the publication occurred while the defendant was residing/working in the state of Kansas, USA. I.E The claimed tort occurred well outside the province the court
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Does Canada have anit-SLAPP laws?
In the US, it's on a state by state basis.
Reason had a recent article on Anti-SLAPP laws:
http://reason.com/blog/2012/06/18/conservative-historians-defamation-suit [reason.com]
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Well I dont know about Ontario, but our BC government said that SLAPP laws are unnecessary. Of course don't think our premier likes public participation that much so that explains it.
I bet ... (Score:5, Funny)
... that if also this librarian had been an Orangutan Mr Richardson would have thought twice about suing.
Re:Huh? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Huh? (Score:5, Funny)
The prior poster was referring to the fictional Librarian of the Unseen University in Ankh Mor-pork on the Discworld in novels written by Terry Pratchett. People don't criticize him as he tends to rip off their arms and or head.
Sounds like Wookie problem resolution practices.
Thank you for the explanation. Love Discworld, (Score:1)
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The prior poster was referring to the fictional Librarian of the Unseen University in Ankh Mor-pork on the Discworld in novels written by Terry Pratchett. People don't criticize him as he tends to rip off their arms and or head.
And for the love of the gods, don't use the "m" word....Nice monkey....Oh S**t!
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OOK!
When a free man isn't free (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:When a free man isn't free (Score:4, Funny)
Mellen Press is trying to make McMaster its McBitch.
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OTOH, it's the employer that gives the man his credentials and thus soapbox for being an authority on publishers. Look how he's identified in the headline.
Yes, I quite agree the lawsuit is repugnant. If it gets any traction in the courts (even as a threat) then we have to look at rewriting our laws. But that doesn't mean the employer is irrelevant here. It's not the same as "Publisher Sues Auto Worker Over His Personal Blog Post."
Hopefully McMaster will see this as good opportunity for headlining their repu
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Luckily the means of production for blogs are fairly accessable.
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Which is precisely why Richardson went after Askey's means of producing food on his table instead. It's the beauty of western democracy: everyone has a voice and those who are independently wealthy can actually afford to use theirs.
Different countries (Score:1)
Have different ideas of what constitutes "freedom of speech".....
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Yeah, you know, I get really sick and tired of hearing all the horseshit Canadian Slashdot users ...
Uh huh. Wait for the judge's ruling. I doubt this's going to get much past the filing stage, and our courts do award court costs and legal fees paid by the loser. We also know the meaning of barratry:
4: the offense of vexatiously persisting in inciting lawsuits and quarrels
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Yeah, you know, I get really sick and tired of hearing all the horseshit Canadian Slashdot users trot out and flaunt in front of us whenever the US is so stupid and evil and screwed up and crap (not that they're wrong).
You do know that Edwin Mellen Press is American, right? American bloggers would be too frightened by the possibility of a lawsuit to publish their true opinion. You've got to go north to find the land of the free these days.
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So, everyone can express their honest, unvarnished opinion about ethnicity, religion, and homosexuality in Canada, right?
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Yup, but the librarian in question didn't stick to safe subjects like race, religion or colour (:-))
--dave
[In case people haven't been following Canadian politics, there's a real debate ongoing in Canada about when merely racist/sexist/religious language turns into inciting attacks on people who are the wrong race, colour or religion. See "Ezra Levant" on Wikipedia if you want an activist and libertarian position on the debate]
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So it would be OK to start railing against Anonymous?
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Like actual violence only? Or are stories like [catholiceducation.org] this [christianconcern.com] false? Don't get me wrong, I don't agree with religious conservatives on this issue. But Canada's reputation is of being a country where one can be civilly liable for expressing politically incorrect opinions, and if so, that's pretty fucking far from free speech.
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His blog needed a Post Anonymously option. (Score:2)
Would not fly in the US (Score:5, Informative)
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Re:Would not fly in the US (Score:4, Insightful)
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I do not know much about defamation law in other countries, but in the US there would be no valid case. The statements are derogatory, but are opinions and not facts. ... the plaintiff here would lose quickly
This, of course, assumes that the University would go to fight
In US they can (and often do, right or wrong!) choose to settle instead and institute new policies limiting what employees can blog on the next day.
Even in US, I am afraid this would not get tossed out of court automatically. Someone would have to stand and fight at a significant expense.
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Needless to say, that would be pretty horrible, especially in this day and age.
Re:Would not fly in the US (Score:5, Informative)
While there was indeed no valid case, that didn't keep Edwin Mellen Press from suing the American magazine Linga Franca in New York state court over a 1993 article where they called it a "vanity press". The case was eventually dismissed in 1998 [google.com] after a series of appeals.
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Have you heard of SLAPP [wikipedia.org] suits. They are very much alive in the US but some states have taken measures against them at least.
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Opinion can be fact or taken as fact. An accident scene interpreter gives opinion that is treated as fact. Expert witnesses give opinion that is considered fact.
In this case, the guy's standing and position could lead his opinion as being accepted as fact by most who viewed it. This is probably why the school was brought into the suit. Random guy rambling is obvious opinion. Specific guy who works in a specific field at a specific place rambling about his field of expertise creates fact.
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Specific guy who works in a specific field at a specific place rambling about his field of expertise creates fact.
Only in your specific imagination.
but does fly elsewhere (Score:3)
The US is pretty unique in that regard. In many other places, even demonstrably true statements can be libelous. And while in the US, these are merely civil matters, in other nations, libel, defamation, and slander are often criminal matters.
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Doesn't change the fact that America sucks, is racist, and kills people.
TFTFY
Edwin Mellen Press is a first-rate publisher (Score:5, Funny)
Barbra Streisand published her memoir there, Don't Take Pictures Of My House.
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Wow, whoever modded this down really showed their lack of knowledge of history and lack of a sense of humor.
(For those who have been living under a turnip truck for the last three decades, see [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect Streisand effect]].)
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Perhaps, but more likely it was modded down for being painfully obvious. Redundant would be better than off topic, of course, as the point is already made as the story is posted to Slashdot, but this tiresome meme regurgitation has to be struck down.
Re:Edwin Mellen Press is a first-rate publisher (Score:5, Insightful)
but this tiresome meme regurgitation has to be struck down.
These tiresome smackdowns have to be regurgitated upon. The FAQ says (or said? not looking) to focus on positive moderation for a reason. Be positive, mang.
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Yes, god forbid anyone make a joke the mighty and legendary MrHanky thinks is past its prime.
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Perhaps, but more likely it was modded down for being painfully obvious.
On Slashdot? Wow, I want to live in the universe that has the slashdot you imagine! Er, I mean, you must be new here. Get off my lawn. Natalie Portman. Hot grits:p ;)
Been there (Score:4, Funny)
She didn't sue, but she said 'no' when I asked her to be my prom date.
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I taped a note on my locker saying "Jenny Arbuckle is a fatty". She didn't sue, but she said 'no' when I asked her to be my prom date.
Roscoe got a sex change, eh? I guess I'd want to turn over a new leaf too, given what happened...he really got a bum rappe.
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ended up with his cousin
Isn't that the American dream?
No. It is an American's dream or the dream of Americans, you manky git.
Why isn't it Richardson Press? (Score:2)
Why is the business named after a person whose identity isn't even known to Google, and not the name of the founder or some other relevant thing or person?
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Check out the history of the company (a real quality page, lolz): http://www.mellenpress.com/newhistory.cfm [mellenpress.com]
Apparently named after a grandfather.
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Thanks for that. I should have found it myself.
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Wow.
According to the timeline, Africa went bankrupt in 1985!
Fact checking at its best
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OMG, you've found the last website that still uses ColdFusion!
Carnival Hucksters (Score:5, Informative)
I work for a small academic publisher and I've seen the Edwin Mellen press at some academic conventions. Nice people, but they totally come across as carnival hucksters. They get their business knowing full well how important "publish or perish" is in academia. Their reps will literally ask every single person who walks by in the exhibit hall: "Do you want to get published?" (including me, on multiple occasions, wearing my vendor badge!) They basically make their money from minimal production values (look at their covers or insides of their books to see what I mean), small print runs, and very high prices. They sell a limited number of books to libraries, to the author, and maybe a handful elsewhere, and then they're done. They claim to be subsidy-free (i.e., not a vanity press) but I don't know if this is true or not.
Can't they get even in some other way? (Score:3)
For instance, the publisher could start a blog in which they call the librarian "Mr. Poopy Pants".
That is essentially the equivalent of what he did to them.
If I think that some publisher's output is poor, that is my opinion. It is not libel. You can't sue people for having standards (even completely vague ones that change daily) and for claiming that some things don't measure up to those standard (in no objective way).
Libel would be if I claim that, say, the publisher cheated someone out of ten thousand dollars, when in fact that is false.
Re:Can't they get even in some other way? (Score:4, Informative)
I wrote:
If I think that some publisher's output is poor, that is my opinion. It is not libel.
Ah, in the United States perhaps. But if I express that opinion in Canada, it might in fact be defamation. Oops!
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_defamation_law
True North Strong and Free, indeed ...
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Ah, in the United States perhaps. But if I express that opinion in Canada, it might in fact be defamation. Oops!
And yet, part of what they're suing him about, was published when the blogger/librarian was still living and working in the United States.
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But it was accessible in Canada, and there have been some crazy court ruling on publishing on the internet. No idea if Canada has had any.
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/high_ct/2002/56.html [austlii.edu.au] is the Australian example - if you put something on the internet the publication takes place when someone views it and hence you have published it in whatever jurisdiction the viewer is in.
Of course suing a university with no involvement at all makes no sense.
Also Herbert Richardson is a dick (Score:2, Informative)
Edwin Mellen Press is dubious and its books are often works of second-class scholarship.
Has anyone heard this?
Edwin Mellen Press is dubious and its books are often works of second-class scholarship.
It appears that a lot of the Internet are talking about it right now.
Edwin Mellen Press is dubious and its books are often works of second-class scholarship.
Is it true?
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Edwin Mellen Press is dubious and its books are often works of second-class scholarship.
Is it true?
I haven't heard anything to the contrary recently.
McMaster is probably right (Score:5, Interesting)
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"Learning Resource?" It's a book, not a nontransferable software license. But we're getting off topic-- Mellon press appears to publish monographs [wikipedia.org], not textbooks. If they're good enough, you can cite them in your research papers.
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Absolutely. If the academic content of a textbook mattered, evolution would apply, and very quickly "survival of the fittest" would mean each area of teaching would recognise only a couple of first class works, and ensure only these books gained a recommendation.
Sadly, 80%+ of teaching is NOT about getting a person to learn something productive. It is simply a process to keep young people out of the job market until they are older and older (we've gone from 12 to 22 and rising), and then to ensure they are
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Well, I'm voting with my money (Score:1)
As in, when I need to get published, I'll pay for a *real* vanity press rather than these "non-subsidized" publishers. You get what you pay for!
Moonies, not Scientologists (Score:3)
The publisher is upset that someone called them Scientologists. Well, they're absolutely not Scientologists. They're Moonies. [sdsu.edu] Yes, really.
Just looking at their website (Score:2)
So just out of curiosity I went to their website. On a poorly presented front page they advertise themselves not to potentials readers (i.e. customers) but to academics desparate to get a book "out there" for career purposes. One of their selling points is "Our books qualify for tenure promotion," for example. Reputable publishing houses do not have to advertise in that manner to potentials authors because their reputation means that they have many more inquiries from new authors than they could possibly ac
Free speech (Score:1)
Petard ready? Hoist away! (Score:2)
IANAL, however...
I imagine it going something like this:
"Your honour, we move for dismissal due to lack of jurisdiction."
From TFA:
Judge: "Okay, published in USA by an American; I have no jurisdiction."
Hopefully he adds, "I award costs to defendants."
Then, all the librarians that keep th
No SLAPP (Score:1)
But the publisher needs to be careful. If they loose, they have to pay the legal fees of the blog owner and the university.
The simple defence is to show the comments are true. Doesn't seem to be to hard.
Dear Mr. Herbert Richardson, (Score:2)
It's just a suit. (Score:2)
Remember folks: Anyone can sue anyone, over just about anything.
That - coupled with a grossly Byzantine case-law system that seems to directly-reward $$ paid to platoons of attorneys - has really left us a broken system.
The problem is one of a level playing field, in both directions.
On the one hand, we want our legal system to be accessible to anyone; this allows the impoverished parents of the kid that was crippled by defective playground equipment to sue Giant Mega Playground Corp despite their sub-povert
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Right or wrong (Score:1)
Doesn't matter who is right or who is wrong... what matters is which lawyers can sway the judge/jury in their client's favor...
The perfect response (Score:2)
Institutions of higher learning across country should issue a joint statement banning that publisher's books from being sold in on-campus bookstores (new or used) or being required material in any course.
They're against academic freedom, they can kiss academic support goodbye, right?
It's not like there aren't other publishers.
Re:I'd Agree with Mr. Askey (Score:5, Insightful)
You're an idiot if you think the subject matter of a book is what determines its quality.