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A letter sent to agents Friday by Random House chairman Markus Dohle has renewed the debate about who controls the right to publish the e-book editions of older backlist titles. In his letter, Dohle makes clear that RH believes the “vast majority” of its backlist contracts “grant us the right to publish books in electronic formats,” while older agreements “often give us the exclusive right to publish ‘in book form’ or ‘in any and all editions.’ Random spokesperson Stuart Applebaum said the letter was “in the works for many weeks and is the product of the thinking of our publishers sales colleagues and others.” The letter, Applebaum added, was sent in the spirit of collaboration not confrontation, and was mailed (or e-mailed) before the holiday break to give agents time to think about its contents.

Before bringing up the subject of contractual rights, Dohle has a long list of what Random is doing in the digital area to publish and promote e-books. Random, Dohle wrote, “is investing millions of dollars in technologies and resources to bolster our online and mobile marketing and sales capabilities.” A large and “rapidly growing” share of the $100 million Random spends annually to market its books is geared toward the Web, Dohle noted. Random is in “the latter stages of a process to review our complete backlist titles for ebook conversion opportunities,” Dohle wrote, and noted Random’s belief that “we are in a strong position to negotiate the best terms possible with our accounts, thereby maximizing the returns to our authors. For backlist and for frontlist titles, we are actively experimenting with new formats such as mobile applications and personalized print editions. We believe that through these efforts we will continue to optimize sales of all of our titles.”

Applebaum said the letter was meant to communicate to agents why “Random House is the right publisher for their clients’ e-books,” promising to publish e-books, “as robustly, carefully and creatively as we do their print editions.” But Applebaum added that the letter also conveys firm conviction that “by contract, Random is the owner of e-book rights.” He declined to comment on whether Random is will to back it’s position by going to court. “We are publishers not litigators,” he said. Earlier this decade, however, Random sued Rosetta Books charging copyright infringement when Rosetta published e-book editions of eight books Random had under contract. In an out-of-court agreement, Rosetta agreed to pay a licensing fee to Random.

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