Random House, Inc. v. Rosetta Books LLC

150 F. Supp. 2d 613 · District Court, S.D. New York · 2001

Facts

Random House sued Rosetta Books for copyright infringement, seeking to enjoin Rosetta from selling ebooks of works for which Random House held licenses to "print, publish and sell the work[s] in book form." Rosetta Books contended that these licenses did not include digital or electronic rights.

Procedural history

Random House filed a complaint against Rosetta Books alleging copyright infringement and tortious interference. Random House simultaneously moved for a preliminary injunction to prohibit Rosetta from infringing its copyrights. This opinion addresses Random House's motion for a preliminary injunction.

Issue

Does the contractual right to "print, publish and sell the work[s] in book form" include the right to publish the works as ebooks, thereby granting the publisher exclusive digital rights?

Holding

No. The court denied Random House's motion for a preliminary injunction, holding that the right to "print, publish and sell the work[s] in book form" does not include the right to publish works as ebooks.

Rule

Under New York contract law, a grant of rights to "print, publish and sell in book form" is a limited grant that does not encompass publication in a distinct digital medium like ebooks, especially when other specific rights were reserved and industry custom defines it narrowly.

Read the full opinion on CourtListener

Case brief last reviewed 2026-05-10. Prepared by CaseReader from the published opinion.