Authors Guild condemns "retroactive rights grab" by RH US
16.12.09 | Benedicte Page
The US Authors Guild has rejected Random House US' claim over historical e-book rights arguing in piece published on its website yesterday (15th December) that difficult times for publishers do not justify a "retroactive rights grab".
The American authors' body was responding to the recent letter sent to literary agents by Random House chief executive Markus Dohle, in which he stated that older contracts granting rights to publish "in all editions" grant electronic rights to the publisher.
The Guild pointed out that a federal court examined the issue in 2001 in the case of Random House v Rosetta Books and decided unequivocally against the publisher.
The piece goes on to say: "It's regrettable and unhelpful that Random House has chosen to try to intimidate authors and agents over these old book contracts. With such a weak legal hand, it would be well advised to stick to its strength—the advantages that its marketing muscle can provide owners of e-book rights. It should also start offering a fair royalty for those rights."
The Guild also weighed into the issue of digital royalties: "We're confident that the current practice of paying 25% of net on e-books will not, in the long run, prevail. Savvy agents are well aware of this," the Guild said. "The only reason e-book royalty rates are so low right now is that so little attention has been paid to them: sales were simply too low to scrap over. That's beginning to change."
The UK's Society of Authors has also called for royalty rates to rise, arguing they should be as much as 75%.
Comments on this article
By Scumble
Why don't they just demand part of authors' life savings while they're at it?16 Dec 09 15:01
