Random House Wins Battle for E-Book Rights

[DonaldL.]

Random House Wins Battle for E-Book Rights

An e-book battle between Random House and the Wylie Agency appears to have ended.

After a monthlong standoff, Random House said on Tuesday that it now held the rights to publish e-book editions of 13 classic books that the literary agent Andrew Wylie had defiantly begun publishing last month under his own digital venture, Odyssey Editions.

Random House also said it would immediately resume doing new business with the Wylie Agency. Since July 22, the publisher has refused to acquire new books from the Wylie Agency and its more than 700 clients.

“We are pleased to announce that the Wylie Agency and Random House have resolved our differences over the disputed Random House titles which have been included in the Odyssey Editions e-book publishing program,” said a joint statement signed by Markus Dohle, the chairman and chief executive of Random House, and Mr. Wylie. It added: “We both are glad to be able to put this matter behind us.”