CEO Stephen Riggio

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Spring Design, a maker of electronic readers, is suing Barnes & Noble Inc, claiming the bookseller's newly launched Nook reader illegally copied its dual-screen design after the two discussed a possible partnership. Spring Design said Barnes & Noble used its proprietary design to better compete with Amazon.com's market-leading Kindle, while failing to disclose its intentions to make its own device. In a lawsuit filed on Monday in U.S. District Court in San Jose, California, Spring Design said it had shared the design of its Alex eReader with Barnes & Noble under protection of a nondisclosure agreement, hoping to strike a ... Read Full Story

The shift from digital to physical books will ultimately hurt traditional bricks-and-mortar book sellers, analysts said Friday on the heels of Barnes & Noble Inc., the largest U.S. bookstore chain, launching its new e-reader. Barnes & Noble introduced the Nook Tuesday as a competitor to online retailer Amazon.com's Kindle, which has dominated the e-reader market. Barnes & Noble, which operates 774 brick-and-mortar stores, also has an e-bookstore that offers more than 1 million titles and an e-reader application that can be used on mobile devices and personal computers, as well as the Nook. The company could become a major player in the digital book ... Read Full Story

Barnes & Noble Inc. is expected to unveil an electronic-book reader to compete with Amazon.com's Kindle in the still-small arena where some see book-selling's future playing out. The New York Times reported that the reader, to be announced Tuesday in New York, will be called the "Nook" and sell for $259. The newspaper cited an ad set running in its book review section Sunday. New York-based Barnes & Noble did not return calls. It launched an online store in July that sells versions of books for mobile devices and PCs. Sony also offers an e-reader, and IREX Technologies Inc. and Plastic Logic Ltd. will ... Read Full Story

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. bookseller Barnes & Noble Inc <BKS.N> said on Thursday it expects lower same-store sales for its current quarter and full year after adjusting its financial reporting period to reflect a recent acquisition. Barnes & Noble said on September 30 it would change its fiscal year following its purchase of College Booksellers to align its results with that business. Barnes & Noble is currently in its second quarter, from August 2 to October 31, and expects comparable store sales to drop 1 percent to 3 percent for the period. For its new fiscal year 2010, from May 3 2009 to ... Read Full Story

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Bookseller Barnes & Noble Inc will soon sell its own electronic reader, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, in a move that could further heat up the competition in the nascent market currently dominated by Amazon.com Inc's Kindle. The wireless touchscreen device could be sold as soon as next month, said the newspaper, citing sources briefed on the matter. In July, the company unveiled an online digital bookstore that it touted as the world's largest, with over 700,000 titles that could be read on devices like Apple Inc's iPhone. It also said then that it would be the exclusive ... Read Full Story