Wednesday, July 2, 2008

No Registration for Indiana Bookstores

A judge in Indiana has overturned the state's law which would have required bookstores to register as adult businesses if they sold sexually explicit materials. Plaintiffs--including Indiana bookstores, the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, the Indiana ACLU, and the Indianapolis Museum of Art--claimed the law was so broadly written that it would include literature such as Lady Chatterley's Lover or The Joy of Sex.

Judge Sara Barker agreed, writing that "A romance novel sold at a drugstore, a magazine offering sex advice in a grocery store checkout line, an R-rated DVD sold by a video rental shop, a collection of old Playboy magazines sold by a widow at a garage sale ... would appear to necessitate registration under the statute."

You can read more about the ruling in Publishers Weekly, Indianapolis Star, and the Chicago Tribune.--David E

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