What is a "book"? What does "in book form" mean? Who owns the copyright to electronic versions of books (e-books)? These are just a few of many questions that federal Judge Sidney Stein of the Southern District of New York is weighing in a dispute between publishers involving the electronic publishing of e-books.

The copyright slugfest began when an upstart e-book publishing firm, RosettaBooks, began publishing electronic versions of bestsellers originally published by Random House. Random House sued in federal court claiming copyright infringement and is currently seeking a preliminary injunction to stop the electronic publication.

Before 1994, Random House did not include language in its contracts with authors specifically giving the company the electronic rights to books it publishes in bound form. RosettaBooks believes that those titles published before 1994 are up for grabs and has already published electronic versions of bestsellers by popular Random House authors. The lawsuit specifically focuses on eight titles by three authors that entered into contracts with Random House between 1961 and 1982.

At the center of the case lies the issue of what constitutes a book in the new digital age? In one corner, we have Random House asserting that they "present authors’ works to the reading public in whatever ‘book form’ meets marketplace demand." In this case, that would include e-books. RosettaBooks (joined by the Authors Guild and the Association of Authors’ Representatives) argues that a book constitutes printed pages and that because Random House did not secure the specific electronic rights to these titles, they are free to publish the electronic versions.

This is not the first time we have seen a case involving some contractual hair-splitting among copyright holders as they try to adapt their copyrights to the new digital media. In a case before the Supreme Court, freelance authors are in a tangle with newspaper and magazine publishers over who owns the copyright to articles that become part of electronic news databases.

These are sticky technological issues that the courts must carefully sort out by weighing the rights of authors and those of the publishing houses. In this case, we believe that the rights should be retained by the publishing house. Whether published in the traditional paper book format or in the new electronic book format — both versions constitute the same "book." However, the end result must fairly compensate authors for all uses of their creative works including those that were unanticipated when the original contracts were signed.