Defending the Free Speech Rights of California’s Booksellers

PLF Senior Attorney Joshua Thompson hosts an in-depth conversation with PLF client and Book Passage bookstore owner Bill Petrocelli and PLF Attorney Anastasia Boden on how California’s newly expanded autograph law which formerly applied only to sports memorabilia — now applies to sellers of any signed commodity worth over $5, including books.

In response to this, PLF and Book Passage have filed a constitutional lawsuit against the onerous new state restrictions that will make it extremely risky, if not impossible, for stores to sell autographed books or host author events, like the more than 700 book signings hosted by Book Passage each year.