[free-sklyarov] Real eBook piracy vs. imagined piracy

[Richard M. Smith]

Hello,

Speaking of RosettaBooks, they are being sued by Random House for
publishing eBooks that Random House claims RosettaBooks does not have
the rights to.  If the courts agree with Random House, the book industry
will have its first real case of eBook piracy.  On the other hand, if
RosettaBooks wins, the rest of book publishing industry is going to be
in a real pickle.  They will be forced to go back to authors to acquire
eBook rights.  In addition, the publishers might be violating copyrights
on existing eBooks if the publisher didn't first get the proper rights
from authors.

The lawsuit seems to turn on the simple question: Does the definition of
a book encompass eBooks?  For some reason, the publishing industry seems
to be very quiet about this lawsuit in stark contrast to the AAP's press
release cheering on the DOJ for arresting Dmitry.

Here's the excerpt from a CNET story about the lawsuit:

http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-4976631.html

Random House sues e-book company over copyrights 
By Melanie Austria Farmer and Gwendolyn Mariano
Staff Writers, CNET News.com 

February 28, 2001, 9:35 a.m. PT 

Publishing giant Random House has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit
against RosettaBooks, accusing the e-book company of illegally selling
electronic versions of several Random House titles. 

The publisher, which filed suit Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for
the Southern District of New York, said RosettaBooks violated its rights
by selling some of its titles as e-books, including William Styron's
"Confessions of Nat Turner" and Kurt Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse Five."
Random House said it intends to publish e-book editions of these works
soon. 

"We seldom institute legal action," said Random House spokesman Stuart
Applebaum. "This is not something we do regularly or lightly, but our
publishing rights have been violated. RosettaBooks is offering e-book
versions that they have no right to sell. We, not anyone else, hold the
e-books right to these titles in question." 

Applebaum added that Random House owns the exclusive rights to publish
backlist books, or older titles, in print, audio and evolving,
technology-centered formats