Re: Random House v RosettaBooks

[Ann Okerson <aokerson@pantheon.yale.edu>]

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Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2001 15:35:18 -0700
From: "BARBARA PEARSON" <BPEARSON@statelib.wa.gov>
To: <liblicense-l@lists.yale.edu>
Subject: Re: Random House v RosettaBooks

That's interesting.  Movie rights are negotiated separately from original
print rights (I think).  Paperback rights are negotiated separately from
original print rights (I think).  So why would they all of a sudden think
that electronic rights were automatic? Hmmmm.

(not on your list, but couldn't help responding when I saw this)

Barbara Pearson
Washington State Library
PO Box 42460
Olympia WA 98504-2460
(360)753-5591
bpearson@statelib.wa.gov

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>>> cahamake@email.uncc.edu 04/18/01 02:41PM >>>
Mike Somers recently forwarded to me a link on a lawsuit I had not heard
about, but which has explosive ramifications for the nascent e-book
industry.

Random House v RosettaBooks

for the whole article see: http://www.rosettabooks.com/pages/legal.html=20
RosettaBooks has contractually acquired and paid for the
electronic-publishing rights to nearly 100 titles, including several works
by William Styron, Kurt Vonnegut and Robert Parker. On February 27, 2001,
Random House, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Bertlesmann, filed suit
against RosettaBooks LLC and Arthur Klebanoff, individually, in federal
court in the Southern District of New York. The suit alleges that Random
House owns exclusive electronic rights to the titles by William Styron,
Kurt Vonnegut and Robert Parker and that Rosetta is infringing Random
House's rights by publishing these titles electronically. Fundamentally,
Random House argues that the limited grants it received 20-to-40 years ago
to "print, publish and sell in book form" should now be interpreted to
include e-books.

Random House has sought injunctive relief including an order which would
prevent Rosetta from approaching the authors of the nearly 21,000 Random
House backlist titles. Random House claims to own the electronic rights to
its entire backlist whether there is a specific electronic rights grant in
the contract or not.