Random House, Inc. v. Rosetta Books LLC

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

Facts

Random House (RH) sued Rosetta Books (RB) for copyright infringement, seeking to enjoin RB from selling ebooks of works whose print rights RH held. RH's contracts with authors granted it the right to 'print, publish and sell the work in book form.' RB contended these contracts did not include digital rights.

Issue

Does the contractual phrase 'print, publish and sell the work in book form' grant Random House the exclusive right to publish those works as ebooks, thereby making Rosetta Books' ebook sales an infringement?

Holding

The court denied Random House's motion for a preliminary injunction, holding that the right to 'print, publish and sell the work in book form' does not include the right to publish works as ebooks. Random House was not likely to succeed on the merits of its copyright infringement claim.

Rule

Under New York contract law, the interpretation of a copyright license depends on the specific language of the contract, considering the entire agreement, industry custom, and whether the 'new use' falls within the same medium as the original grant. Broad grant language is required to encompass new technologies.

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Case brief last reviewed 2026-04-28. Prepared by CaseReader from the published opinion.