Frankfurt 2010: Are US Publishers Using eBooks to Undermine Territorial Rights?

Publishing Perspectives: "Frankfurt Book Fair veteran agent Andrew Nurnberg has raised the specter of e-book deals being used to undermine territorial rights in an interview with Publishing Perspectives. But his fear that some American publishers may try to use e-book negotiations to break existing rights boundaries left other agents unruffled. Arguments about the primacy of authors’ relationships with their editors, who may work at competing houses in different countries, still appear to hold sway in the case of digital deals. 'The big thing that’s in the air all the time,' Nurnberg said, 'is that territoriality is not so much about physical books. Now the question is moving toward territoriality for e-rights.'"