The publisher Random House sought an injunction against Rosetta
Books claiming that Random House had exclusive reproduction and
publication rights in written works that it had previously
published.
The court ruled that Random House’s rights did not extend to
publications of the written material in electronic or digital
formats. Instead, those rights remained with the authors of the
works and so only their permission was required for electronic
publications.
The contracts between Random House and the authors of the works
in question were drawn up prior to the growth of electronic
publishing technology and so made no express provision for E-books.
The court considered the distinguishing features of E-books and
concluded that there were significant differences between them and
traditional print media and so they could not be covered by the
existing contracts.
