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Random House Inc spokesman Stuart Applebaum has moved to clarify the company's position on electronic rights after digital publisher Open Road said it planned to go ahead with its publication of backlist works by William Styron in digital form starting 4th May. Random House, which publishes Styron in print, had previously claimed ownership over the writer's digital backlist.
Calling the Styron deal "a unique situation", Applebaum said the company's belief that it has the right to publish in digital format books that it published before the emergence of an electronic-book marketplace remains the same. Late last year Random House US sent a letter to literary agents insisting that the "vast majority of our backlist contracts grant us the exclusive right to publish books in electronic formats".
Though the Styron deal appears to undermine that position, in a statement reported on Publishers Lunch and GalleyCat, Applebaum noted: "Our position is unchanged. Our publishing agreements grant us the right to publish our authors' works in all text-based version of the work, including electronic publication formats. In any potential separation of our e-books backlist rights, we reserve the right to pursue all our options, including, in some cases, legal ones. Our preferred course is always a business resolution."
"Our preferred course is always a business resolution," Applebaum said. "The Styron titles presented a unique situation in the context of our effective efforts with authors or their estates to transition their backlist to Random House e-books."