Audible “Permanently Restrained” in Captions Case

Audible has agreed not to include the copyrighted works of the seven plaintiff publishers in its “Captions” program without express permission.

Earlier this month, leading US publishers and the nation’s top audiobook platform filed a [proposed] “Stipulated Consent Permanent Injunction” with Judge Valerie Caproni nearly three weeks after Caproni dismissed a contentious, months-long copyright infringement lawsuit against Audible, the Amazon-owned audiobook provider.

“What’s public now is that Audible agrees to be ‘permanently restrained’ from generating text that is ‘derived from audiobook versions of Publishers’ Works for any product or service created or offered by Audible,’” reports Andrew Albanese, Publishers Weekly senior writer.

“Only the seven named plaintiffs are covered by the injunction,” Albanese tells CCC’s Chris Kenneally. “But there is apparently language in the settlement that extends the same protection of that injunction to all AAP members.

“In a brief statement, AAP president and CEO Maria Pallante said that, ‘Audible has agreed that it will obtain permission from any AAP Members that are in good standing with AAP before moving forward with Audible Captions for their works,’” he notes.

Every Friday, CCC’s “Beyond the Book” speaks with the editors and reporters of “Publishers Weekly” for an early look at the news that publishers, editors, authors, agents and librarians will be talking about when they return to work on Monday.