The United States District Court for the District of Maryland rules in favor of the AAP granting a preliminary injunction that suspends the unconstitutional law at the center of Association of American Publishers v. Brian Frosh. Full statement here?https://t.co/GIQguvjRxy
— Association of American Publishers (@AmericanPublish) February 17, 2022
The ruling emerged late on a Wednesday afternoon as did the public statement issued by the Association of American Publishers (AAP) President and CEO Maria Pallante. The United States District Court for the District of Maryland had ruled in favor of the Association of American Publishers (AAP) in a lawsuit against the state of Maryland over the distribution and pricing of ebooks to libraries.
In June of 2021, Maryland had passed legislation requiring publishers to offer reasonable terms to libraries seeking to provide ebooks to their communities. That legislation was intended to counter what was perceived as discriminatory pricing practices on ebooks as well as imposed embargoes – all aimed at public libraries. In December of 2021, AAP had filed suit against the state in order to obtain a legal injunction against implementation.
On February 16, 2022, the District Court handed down a preliminary injunction, thereby endorsing the view of AAP that the rights of intellectual property owners could not be overridden by a state legislature.
Abstract
The Association of American Publishers is a Voting Member organization of NISO.
