Harper settles royalty suit, but problems persist. (HarperCollins agrees to pay royalties withheld from author Judith Appelbaum to settle her lawsuit; Appelbaum says industry accounting practices need to be updated) (Brief Article)

HARPERCOLLINS has reached a negotiated settlement with author Judith Appelbaum over her suit charging the publisher with inaccurate accounting of royalties, and has agreed to pay the unaccounted royalties in addition to legal and auditing fees.

However, despite the settlement, Appelbaum complained that antiquated, manual accounting practices used by HarperCollins and other publishers remain an obstacle to accurate reporting and payment of author royalties. Appelbaum filed the lawsuit in April 1993, claiming that HarperCollins had short-changed her subsidiary rights royalties. The lawsuit noted that overworked sub rights departments were placing misidentified and …