The e-book format continues to be a growing force in book publishing. Worldwide sales are predicted to reach nearly $10 billion by 2016 compared to $3.2 billion in 2011. Whether licenses granted by authors in older[FOOTNOTE 1] book publishing agreements can be construed to embrace this new technology is a major question for the industry. The answer will determine whether traditional publishers, or authors and the digital startups that some of them now choose to license, will control e-book publishing of lucrative classic titles. Recently, this issue was raised for the second time in a decade in a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.[FOOTNOTE 2]
The plaintiff, HarperCollins — with nearly a 200-year history — is a major publisher of books. They include “Julie of the Wolves,” by Jean Craighead George, the story of an Inuit girl who escapes her abusive husband and survives in the wild by joining a wolf pack. This young adult book was first published by a predecessor of HarperCollins in 1972. The following year, it earned the prestigious Newbery Medal and was nominated for a National Book Award. Over the past 40 years, HarperCollins claims to have sold more than 3.8 million copies.
