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Follow on Google News | Author rejects Outskirts Press demand to terminate critical book, and to pay $5 million for libelMichael N. Marcus has published a book that accuses Outskirts Press of being incompetent and dishonest. In a libel suit, Outskirts wants $5 million and asked a court to ban the book. Marcus has requested dismissal of the suit.
By: Silver Sands Books Marcus maintains that Outskirts Press is often “stupid, sloppy and sleazy,” in printing and promoting books, and in promoting its own business. He frequently details Outskirts’s “errors and deliberate distortions” Herbert J. Skidmore, of the Skidmore, Appel and Wentworth law firm, is representing both Outskirts Press and Brent Sampson, its founder and CEO. In a brief filed with the Colorado Supreme Court, Skidmore stated, “While it is extremely unusual for a publisher to seek to halt publication of another company’s book, Plaintiff has been grievously harmed in the past by Defendant’s malicious, unrelenting and unwarranted criticism. If this new book is allowed to circulate, it could mean the end of Outskirts Press with loss of publishing opportunities for authors, loss of jobs, loss of competition in publishing, and the loss of a substantial investment by the Sampson family.” The lawsuit asks the court to order termination of book printing, verified destruction of all copies in inventory, surrender of all profits from sold copies, and payment of $50,000 in expenses plus $4,950,000 in punitive damages for libel. Marcus has labeled the suit "groundless, frivolous, vindictive and unconstitutional." " I have been criticizing the company online for over a year without any contradiction or complaint," Marcus continued, "While Outskirts Press makes extensive use of online media in promoting itself, it apparently did not feel threatened by online criticism by others. It’s only now, when faced with a permanent bound volume of criticism that could be on a shelf in the Library of Congress for generations to come, that Outskirts – a book publisher – feels it necessary to seek censorship and censure from the courts." "I call upon Outskirts Press to end this foolishness immediately, Marcus concluded. "It is absurd for a book publisher to ask a court to revoke my Freedom of the Press." # # # Silver Sands Books is an "indie publisher," specializing in helpful books which make technical subjects easy to understand. Two of our speciality areas are publishing and telecommunications. We also have non-technical books, plus blogs and websites. Although we use offset printing for some books, we are a GREEN PUBLISHER, using "print on demand" (POD) production for our technical books to insure that our readers can get up-to-date books at the lowest possible cost. End
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