Time Staffers Miffed at Old Lang's Sign-Off & Payout

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A 15-month job tenure yields a $19 million payout over four years. Nice work if you can get it.

Staffers at Time, Inc., however, are not happy that Laura Lang, hired in 2012 as CEO of the company for a four-year term, but who announced her intended departure in March 2013, is netting a sweet payout, according to a column in today's New York Post.

The Post piece reports that Lang, who oversaw layoffs of 500 employees and a salary freeze (see "TUOL" posts 1/11/13 & 1/31/13), received a $1 million salary in 2012--her one full year on the job--and close to $1 million for her brief stay this year.  With stock value and bonus, her 2012 earnings reached $7.6 million. Additionally, the Post reported she received a $2.5 million separation bonus this year, and is expected to reap a $2.3 million "transaction bonus" next year over the splitting off of Time, Inc. from Time Warner, which mostly was overseen by Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes.

Lang announced in March she would step down as soon as a replacement was found, which was in August, though her contract carried through last month. Meanwhile, according to the Post, Time, Inc. managers lost their stock option grants with the Time Warner spinoffs.

Well, at least some people are finding magazine journalism profitable nowadays.

Penthouse Magazine Goes Bust?; Parent Co. Files Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

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'Time' to Eat & Travel

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Time, Inc., the nation's largest magazine publisher, will acquire Food & Wine, Travel + Leisure and the rest of the stable of American Express, Inc.'s publishing arm, according to the Associated Press.

Financial terms of the deal, which is expected to close during the last quarter of 2013, were not disclosed. The deal will be finalized at around the same time Time Warner Inc. splits off  the Time, Inc. magazine division, publisher of Time, Sports Illustrated and People, among other titles, from Time Warner, which will concentrate on Warner Bros. studio and its tv holdings (See "TUOL" post 3/7/13].

In Legal 'Twist,' Federal Judge Keeps Chubby Checker Trademark Suit Alive

Cover of Chubby Checker

"Let's Twist Again," is the battle cry of 71-year-old Rock 'n Roll legend Chubby Checker after United States District Court for the Northern District of California Judge William H. Alsup last week ruled Checker (nee Ernest Evans) may pursue a $500 million trademark infringement claim against defendants Hewlett-Packard and Palm, Inc.

The case, Ernest Evans et al. v. Hewlett Packard Company & Palm, Inc. (Case No. 3:13-cv-02477-WHA), was brought in the San Francisco federal court in February 2013, by Checker over a smart phone app called Chubby Checker that purportedly enabled users to gauge a man's genital size based on his shoe size.

The South Carolina native best known for early '60s hits including The Twist, Pony Time and The Hucklebuck, sued out of concern his stage name would be forever-linked to obscene images, according to a New York Daily News article written last February. The defendants deny any involvement in the creation of the app allegedly developed by Magic Apps, but removed it from HP and Palm-hosted sites in September 2012.

The lawsuit claims the plaintiff received no compensation for the app's alleged unauthorized use of the Chubby Checker moniker and blames the defendants for allegedly endorsing the app and misleading consumers.  Both sides are actively engaged in settlement negotiations, according to a joint case management status report filed by the parties this month with the court.

The devoted staff of "TUOL" is tempted to exercise its puerile sense of humor by pointing out Checker's recordings include Limbo Rock, The Fly and Birdland, but instead, will just put on its Blue Suede Shows (size 18, app lovers) and walk away from the whole thing.

Journalist Edges Out Lumberjack as Worst Job in U.S.

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A survey released today of  200 occupations by career Web site Careercast.com found reporters have the dubious honor of holding the worst job in the United States, according to a post by a Wall St. Journal blog (Blogs.wsj.com).

Careercast.com, which is owned by Carlsbad, Calif.-based Adicio, Inc., uses data from government agencies, including the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and bases its rankings on five criteria:

• work environment
• physical demands
• stress
• income
• hiring outlook.

Given bleak job prospects, long work days and paltry pay, it's not too surprising that journalists would find themselves 200th among the survey of 200 careers. Reporters edged out enlisted military personnel and lumberjacks to capture the basement spot. At least lumberjacks get to wield an axe, though "TUOL" has seen newspaper newspapers lethally wield a blue pen.

At the top of the Careercast.com list are actuaries, followed by biomedical engineers and software engineers, all of whom any self-respecting journalist could drink under the table. "TUOL" found little solace in the survey, in that attorneys ranked a meager 117.

Actuaries assign a financial value to risk, so journalism students may want to consult with one before it's too late.

Poor Time Inc.: Media Conglomerate Trims Workforce by 6%

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Vowing to "transform our company into one that is leaner, more nimble and more innately multi-platform," Time, Inc. CEO Laura Lang this week announced the media giant was pink-slipping 6 percent of its global workforce, or roughly 480 of its 8,000 employees.

According to online accounts by Bloomberg News and AdWeek, Time, Inc., the largest U.S. magazine publisher, suffered a 6.2 percent drop in sales over the first three quarters of 2012, compared to a year earlier, to $2.47 billion. Lang took the helm of Time, Inc. last year after a successful stint at the Digitas digital ad agency.

Declining newsstand sales of magazine titles, such as People and Fortune, had the industry and Time, Inc. employees fretting about looming layoffs (see "TUOL" post 1/11/13). The media company endured significant layoffs in 2008 and 2009 as well (see "TUOL" post 10/30/09).

Time (Inc.) Is A Wastin'

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Looking to trim $100 million in an uncertain climate marked by sinking ad revenues and declining readership, Time, Inc. may pink-slip 500 to 700 staffers next month, according to an exclusive story yesterday by New York Post columnist Kevin Kelly.

The Post article noted that Time, Inc. CEO Laura Lang put the kibosh on pay raises for an 8,000-strong workforce. Time, Entertainment Weekly, Fortune, and People are among the publications in the media conglomerate's stable.

Nashua Telegraph on the Block

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The Nashua Telegraph, the daily newspaper reporting on New Hampshire's second-largest city, last week was put up for sale, the paper announced.

Owned since 1977 by Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania-based Independent Publications, Inc.("IPI"), the Telegraph publishes a daily, a weekly and maintains the nashuatelegraph.com Web site. IPI is also looking for a buyer for its other newspapers and holdings, according to the Telegraph story.

Earlier this year, IPI unloaded its Muzak franchises, for which the elevator-riding staff of "TUOL" is grateful.

UPDATE: Google Tries to Knock Out Digital Library Class Action Suit

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Insisting that scanning 20 million books to create the world's largest digital library constitutes a fair use, Google, Inc., last week filed a motion in a New York federal court to dismiss a class action copyright infringement suit, Paid Content (www.paidcontent.org) reports.

The seven-year-old case, The Authors Guild, Inc. et al. v. Google Inc. (Case No. 12-3200) (see "TUOL" posts 9/19/12, 2/19/10) involves a claim by the 8,500-member Guild that Google violated the Digital Millenium Copyright Act [Pub. Law 105-304] by infringing on authors' works.  In its latest motion, Google argues that digital scanning is a transformative use of the copyrighted works and not an infringement. The search engine giant also contends that the authors should not be allowed to sue collectively as a class because many of them allegedly favor the digital scanning.

The Authors Guild wants $750 per book from Google, but Google maintains the scanned versions don't compete with the hand-held existing versions of the books at issue and do not diminish the value of the existing books.

Quieting the Town Crier

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The Greenfield (Mass.) Town Crier, a weekly newspaper founded in 1961 and distributed free each Friday, will turn off the lights with its May 11 issue, the Brattleboro (Vt.) Reformer reports.

Although the Town Crier recently launched a Web site, established a Facebook presence and underwent a re-design, the end result was the same as watching one's middle-aged uncle throw on a bad toupee, don khakis and go to a bar for twenty-somethings.  Like the newspaper industry overall, the Town Crier was not immune to the effects of declining ad pages and readers' changing tastes.

The Reformer published the Town Crier. Both newspapers are owned by digital first Media's Media News Group, Inc. The Town Crier, a source of local and community news, had a circulation of roughly 12,000, according to the Mondotimes.com Web site.

Calif. Federal Judge Protects Anonymity of Blogger Against Spirtual Group Subpoena

Image via WikipediaIn  her 16-page opinion in Art of Living Foundation v. Does 1-10 (Case No. 10-cv-05022), United States District Judge for the Northern District of California Lucy H. Koh last week ruled against a spiritual organization that had subpoenaed Google and Automattic, Inc. to obtain the identity of Skywalker, who publishes two blogs critical of the group.

The Art of Living Foundation ("ALF") sued unnamed defendants in November 2010 for defamation, trade libel, misappropriation of trade secrets and copyright infringement based on two blogs' publication of ALF's "Breath Water Sound Manual" and teaching methods. The blogs, "Leaving the Art of Living" and "Beyond the Art of Living" are written by an anonymous poster under the pseudonym Skywalker, according to the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press Web site (www.rcfp.org).

ALF celebrates the spiritual lessons of "His Holiness Ravi Shankar" that emphasize yoga, meditation and breathing relaxation skills. Skywalker and his supporters argue the plaintiff is attempting to use its copyright as a tool to suppress their free speech rights. The defendants challenged ALF's subpoenas of the Internet Service Providers without revealing their identities.

To the degree anonymity encourages an individual to speak freely, Judge Koh wrote, compelling the disclosure of Skywalker's name "diminishes the free exchange of ideas guaranteed by the Constitution." Judge Koh indicated in her ruling that as the lawsuit proceeds to the discovery stage, the issue of anonymity may be revisited and the defendant blogger may not be able to continue to conceal his identity.

But at least for now, as Obi-Wan Kenobi used to say: "Use the courts, young Skywalker, use the courts..."

Media General Demoted by Poor Quarterly Earnings

Image via WikipediaDeclining advertising revenues among its print and advertising holdings are to blame for a $4.2 million operating loss in the First Quarter of 2011 by Richmond, Va.-based media conglomerate Media General, Inc.("MGI"), according to Editor & Publisher.

The disappointing numbers fare poorly compared to First Quarter earnings in 2010, during which MGI showed an $8.7 million operating profit.  Total 2011 1Q revenues were $148.9 million, a 6.2 percent drop from the corresponding period a year ago.

Although MGI's television stations and local media Web sites performed comparatively well, the company's numbers were dragged down by its print and advertising entities.  MGI experience a 7 percent decline in circulation revenues in the First Quarter of 2011.

The company, whose presence is strongest in the Southeast U.S., includes ownership of 3 metropolitan dailies and 20 community newspapers, 18 network-affiliated television outlets, and 200 specialty publications, including weekly newspapers and niche publications.

Zap! Thwak! Federal Judge Knocks Out Suit Against Stan Lee, Marvel

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U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York Judge Paul A. Crotty has tossed a protracted $2 billion lawsuit that spread from N.Y. into Colo. and Calif. brought by shareholders against legendary comic book creator Stan Lee and Marvel Entertainment, according to www.law.com.

Judge Crotty's 14-page decision in Jose Abadin & Christopher Belland derivatively on behalf of Stan Lee Media, Inc. v. Marvel Entertainment, Inc., Marvel Enterprises, Stan Lee & Arthur M. Lieberman (Case No. 09-cv-0715) denied the plaintiffs leave to file a second amended complaint and granted the defendants' motion to dismiss the suit in its entirety.

New investors, who acquired Stan Lee Media Inc., which declared bankruptcy in 2001, alleged that the corporation Lee established with a former partner owned the rights to comic book superheroes including Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, X-Men and Spider-Man. The plaintiffs alleged Lee wrongly transferred the ownersip rights of  these formidable characters to Marvel Entertainment in 1998.

Judge Crotty ruled the plaintiffs lacked standing to sue because they were not shareholders when the purported improper transfer occurred. Moreover, Judge Crotty held  the plaintiffs' attempt to enforce their rights a decade after the fact violated applicable statutes of limitations, which not even the brute strength of Wolverine and the Hulk can overcome.

No doubt the plaintiffs are pretty "Thor" about the decision.

NewsCorp Subsidiary Settles Antitrust Suit for $500 million

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A four-year antitrust battle between News America Marketing, a subsidiary of Rupert Murdoch's NewsCorp that accounted for nearly 8 percent of  NewsCorp's operating income in FY 2009, and Livonia, Michigan-based Valassis Communications, Inc., concerning alleged unfair competition and tortious interference  in newspaper coupon insert publishing and other marketing practices, has ended.

Under terms of the settlement, NewsCorp reportedly will pay Valassis $500 million and News America Marketing will participate in a 10-year shared  mail distribution agreement with Valassis Direct Mail. The $500 million figure takes into account a $300 million judgment Valassis previously secured against NewsCorp in a related action in Michigan state court, as well as pending cases in California state court and federal court in Michigan.

The NewsCorp media conglomerate's holdings include Fox Broadcasting Co., The Wall St. Journal, and The New York Post.

MediaNews Group's Colorado Rocky Finances

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The insolvency beat goes on for ad revenue-strapped, circulation-starved newspaper conglomerates with the announcement that  Denver-based MediaNews Group, Inc. ("MNG") will shortly file a pre-approved Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

The financial restructring plan, which affects Affiliated Media, Inc., an MNG holding group, will give lenders an 80 percent ownership stake in the entity and leave current management intact, though shareholders will lose the value of their holdings. In return for the 80 percent equity, principal lenders, headed by Bank of America, will reduce MNG's existing debt to $165 million from its current approximate $930 million. Reportedly, 95 percent of the media giant's lenders and 91 percent of its bondholders have signed off on the restructuring plan.

The proposed bankruptcy package does not involve individual MNG newspapers, just the Afilliated Media holdings. Among MNG properties are The Oakland Tribune, The Berkshire Eagle, The Salt Lake Tribune, The St. Paul Pioneer Press, The Detroit News, and The Denver Post.

Jordan Gives Grocery Chains the Air

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"I wanna sue like Mike."

Basketball legend Michael Jordan has an usual way of expressing his gratitude. When Sports Illustrated published a commemorative issue, Jordan: Celebrating a Hall of Fame Career, honoring the All-Star guard who led the Chicago Bulls to six championships, local supermarket giants Jewel Food Stores, Inc., and Dominick's Finer Foods, LLC each paid for a full-page ad in the magazine congratulating Air Jordan.

Jordan was moved by the gesture, all the way to Cook County Circuit Court, where he filed separate suits against the grocers on December 21. The cases, Michael Jordan & Jump 23, Inc. v. Dominicks Finer Foods, LLC (No. 2009LO15548) and Michael Jordan v. Jewel Food Stores, Inc. (No. 2009LO15549), view the congratulatory ads as an unauthorized attempt to link the basketball great to their supermarkets.

The suits include claims for trademark infringement under Sec. 32 of the Lanham Act (15 U.S.C. sec. 1114),  False Endorsement, False Designation of Origin, and Dilution under Sec. 43 of the Lanham Act (15 U.S.C. sec. 1125(a)(c)), unfair competition, violation of the Illinois Right of Publicity Act (765 ILCS 1075/1-60), and violation of the Illiniois Consumer Fraud & Trade Practices Act (815 ILCS 505/2 et seq.).

Jordan, who holds a registered trademark on his name, went after Dominick's for its ad, the top half of which featured his trademark number 23 and words of congratulations, while the bottom half sported a coupon for a Ranchers Reserve steak, which Jordan claims directly competes with steakhouses that bear his name as well as a direct mail steak company. The Jewel ad depicts a pair of Air Jordan sneakers with the number 23 on the tongues and includes words of praise, along with Jewel's "just around the corner" slogan.

The suits seek attorneys' fees, unspecified damages, and to prevent the grocers from using Jordan's name in future ads. "TUOL" will keep you posted as information on the case dribbles in.

EFF Seeks to Protect ID of Blogging Development Opponents

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The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and local counsel want to quash subpoenas that would identify anonymous bloggers who are critical of a Chicago development project.

In Fix Wilson Yard, Inc. et al v. City of Chicago et al. (Docket No. 2008-CH-45023), the EFF wants a Cook County Illinois Circuit Judge to toss six subpoenas to Google aimed at Websites including www.uptownupdate.com and www.buenaparkneighbors.org, sought by defendant firms linked to Chicago developer Peter Holsten. The subpoenas want the identities of anonymous online critics of the Wilson Yard project and its chief sponsor, Alderman Helen Shiller.

The EFF contends that identifying the online critcs has no bearing on the litigation, which involves land-use ordinances, and abridges the First Amendment rights of the anonymous opponents of the project.

Twitter a 'Cheep' Knockoff?

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Three months after garnering a Webby Award as "Breakout of the Year," Twitter, Inc., the San Francisco-based social networking and micro-blogging behemoth, finds itself on the wrong end of a patent infringement suit.

TechRadius, Inc. of Sugarland, Texas, sued Twitter, Inc., in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas in Houston, alleging that Twitter has infringed on its patented IRIS (Immediate Response Information System) technology. According to the Complaint, TechRadius sells, develops and services mass notification systems that enable a "message author" to originate a message that simultaneously can be delivered via communications gateways to "message subscribers."

TechRadius' Complaint includes a jury demand. Ideally, the jury will be drawn from a pool of 140 characters. The factfinders will have to determine whether Twitter is a victim of a plaintiff looking to cash in on Twitter's success or whether it engaged in devious behavior and is flourishing at the expense of others' genius.

Schtick or Tweet?

Dwarfism Advocacy Group Files FCC Complaint Against 'Celebrity Apprentice'

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Little People of America, Inc. (LPA), a national nonprofit dwarfism support organization, has filed a complaint with the Federal Communications Commission against NBC's "Celebrity Apprentice," Donald Trump's reality program, over the April 5, 2009, episode's repeated use of the word "midget," which the LPA considers offensive.

The LPA likens "midget" to a racial slur and wants a proscription of the term on broadcast television. According to the FCC Form 475B (Obscene, Profane, and/or Indecent Material Complaint Form) submitted by the LPA, the episode at issue ridiculed little people not only by uttering the word "midget" numerous times, but also by cast members producing a viral video detergent ad entitled "Jesse James and the Midgets." Former NFL running back Hershel Walker, comic Joan Rivers, and country star Clint Black, not exactly a triumverate of national arbiters of good taste, discuss during the segment having little people bathe themselves in a bathtub full of detergent and then hanging them out to dry.

No comment as yet from Trump, NBC, or the FCC in response to the LPA complaint. The LPA (http://www.lpaonline.org) was co-founded in 1957 by actor Billy Barty, and claims to have more than 6,000 members worldwide.

UPDATE: LaRussa Finds a Walk as Good as a Suit

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St. Louis Cards Manager Tony LaRussa has dismissed his lawsuit against Twitter, Inc., with prejudice, perhaps concluding that his case against the social network was off-base.

No money changed hands in the decision to end the San Francisco Superior Court case of Anthony LaRussa v. Twitter, Inc. & Does 1-25 inclusive (CGC09-488101). The multi-count suit included allegations of misappropriation, trademark infringement and cybersquatting based on an imposter sending offensive tweets under LaRussa's name (see "TUOL" posts 6/4/09, 6/8/09, 6/9/09).