Hachette Oversteps to Defend DRM
September 4, 2012
BoingBoing explains how, in publishing, open is really closed in “Hachette to Tor Authors: You Must Keep the DRM on Your Ebooks.” Since Tor Books famously dropped their DRM requirements, authors who publish with both that house and Hachette Book Group find themselves in an odd position.
Hachette is, apparently, on the opposite end of the DRM opinion spectrum from Tor; the word is that it has a strict no-DRM-free-editions-of-anything-anywhere policy. Writer Cory Doctorow reveals the contents of a letter he says was sent to an author who published with each company in different territories. He tells us the letter:
“. . .explains to the author that Hachette has ‘acquired exclusive publication rights in our territories from you in good faith,’ but warns that in other territories, Tor’s no-DRM policy ‘will make it difficult for the rights granted to us to be properly protected.’ Hachette’s proposed solution: that the author insist Tor use DRM on these titles. ‘We look forward to hearing what action you propose taking.'”
As the first commenter notes, the author might just propose switching publishers; I know I would. It takes a certain kind of arrogance for a publisher to think it can bully its authors into restricting the actions of its colleagues. In foreign territories.
Cynthia Murrell, September 04, 2012
Sponsored by ArnoldIT.com, developer of Augmentext
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