Pocket PC eBooks Watch - eBook and beyond  
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Round Two
E-Publisher Wins Round in Court
With electronic rights to countless books potentially at stake, a small e-publisher has won a second legal round against Random House Inc.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit unanimously upheld an earlier decision rejecting Random House's request for a preliminary injunction against RosettaBooks, which is selling e-versions of "Cat's Cradle" and seven other old Random House books.
"It is a good day for authors and for the development of electronic reading," Arthur Klebanoff, RosettaBooks' chief executive, said Monday.
Random House spokesman Stuart Applebaum said the ruling "was on procedural grounds, not on the ultimate legal merits of our arguments," and that the copyright infringement lawsuit would continue.
"We are encouraged by the Second Circuit's view that there are serious factual questions to be explored ... and we look forward to pursuing that at the District Court level," Applebaum said Monday.
...Although demand for e-books remains small, and Random House recently shut down its electronic imprint, sales have been growing and the market likely will become increasingly important.
Klebanoff said sales of the eight disputed titles total about 2,000 copies.
The book world has been strongly divided over the lawsuit. Publishers Simon & Schuster and Penguin Putnam were among those backing Random House, while the Authors Guild and the Association of Authors' Representatives supported RosettaBooks.
RosettaBooks has continued to acquire old titles. Last fall, it agreed with the estate of Virginia Woolf to issue such classic titles as "To the Lighthouse" and "A Room of One's Own." It will also release electronic versions of E.M. Forster's "A Passage to India" and "Aspects of the Novel."

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