Wow - I had no idea this had been going on. But this is great news and congratulations to Dee and Butler!
I found something interesting that might have some connection to other publishing shenanigans near the end of the article:
Note that this is Random House, the same publishing company that is trying to put one over on new writers with horrible contracts as detailed in this thread here -
http://drunkardswalkforums.yuku.com/top ... round-here
I wonder if Random House got ruled against because of the way certain contracts work/are written and was hoping to establish precedent on terms favorable to them and stuff like e-publishing rights etc. with the stuff detailed by Scalzi. If so, it's backfired on them.
I found something interesting that might have some connection to other publishing shenanigans near the end of the article:
Quote:The case could have an impact on Bizar's other games. All of them originally were released in the late '70s and early '80s, long before electronic publishing rights were anticipated by most publishers. In the 2002 case Random House vs. Rosetta Books, the New York state court of appeals ruled that unless a publishing contract explicitly grants ebook rights to the publisher, those rights are retained by the author. Even a contract that gives a publisher rights "in book form" would not be interpreted to cover ebooks. The court ruled, "[T]he law of New York, which determines the scope of Random House's contracts, has arguably adopted a restrictive view of the kinds of 'new uses' to which an exclusive license may apply when the contracting parties do not expressly provide for coverage of such future forms."
Note that this is Random House, the same publishing company that is trying to put one over on new writers with horrible contracts as detailed in this thread here -
http://drunkardswalkforums.yuku.com/top ... round-here
I wonder if Random House got ruled against because of the way certain contracts work/are written and was hoping to establish precedent on terms favorable to them and stuff like e-publishing rights etc. with the stuff detailed by Scalzi. If so, it's backfired on them.