GBS: The Storm Clouds Gather


Joseph S. Hall, of Kellogg, Huber, Hansen, Todd, Evans & Figel has entered an appearance in the Google Book Search case. At first, he said he’d be representing the Authors Guild, but then the clerk’s office added the cryptic notation “FILING ERROR - DEFICIENT DOCKET ENTRY - (WRONG FILER SELECTED).” Instead, he filed an appearance on behalf of a list of “putative plaintiffs’ class members that starts with Harold Bloom. Yes, that Harold Bloom. The list then rattles off a fairly impressive set of names (with a distinctly conservative overall tilt) from Elliott Abrams to John Yoo. There’s a distinct overlap with the list of clients of Writers Representatives, the firm of literary agent Lynn Chu, one of the most outspoken critics of the settlement.

I’d say we’re waiting for the other shoe to drop, except that there are so many suspended shoes in the air at the moment that it’s hard to say which one is the “other” shoe.

UPDATE: This particular shoe isn’t going anywhere until attorney Hall crosses his ‘t’s and dots his ‘i’s. The clerk’s office just added to the document the notation, “Note to Attorney Joseph Hall to RE-FILE Document [146] Notice of Appearance. ERROR(S): Each individual plaintiff listed on the Notice of Appearance must be added on to the docket.”