Donald Trump’s lawsuit against Bob Woodward over audiobook is dismissed

By Jonathan Stempel

New York (Reuters) -Donald Trump could not follow the 2020 best -selling “Rage” interviews against journalist Bob Woodward, a federal judge reigned on Friday.

The decision of the US regional judge Paul Gardephe in Manhattan is Woodward, Publisher Simon & Schuster and former owner Paramount Global.

They claimed that Federal Law prevented the US President of the US President from the copyright interviews conducted as part of their official duties, and that no president did not demand copyrights to publish presidential interviews.

The defendants called Woodward “the only architect and the real author of the interviews, just as journalists such as the late Walter Cronkite and Barbara Walters interviews with other presidents.

Woodward also said that interviews reflect the “classic news reporting”, which helps to convey the right information to the public, and thus means “fair use”.

Trump interviewed with Woodward Trump 19 times between December 2019 and August 2020, and about 20% of the interviews came.

The book was published in September 2020, including Woodward’s interpretation, “Trump Tapes” voice book was published in October 2022.

In January 2023, Trump said that the interviews were only for the book again in January 2023. Woodward said he never accepted this restriction.

The 49.98 million dollar damage request was based on sales of 2 million audio books, each of Trump’s lawyers, each of them from $ 24.99.

In October 2023, Paramount sold Simon & Schuster to the Private Capital Company KKR as a cash $ 1.62 billion in cash.

CASE Trump V Simon & Schuster Inc et al., USA Regional Court, Southern Region of New York, No. 23-06883.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York)