PublishersLunch
Months after long-troubled Dorchester Publishing
went into foreclosure with more than $2.9 million in outstanding debts to owner
John Backe, it appears Amazon Publishing is in line to acquire the company's
backlist, contracts, and other intellectual property, according to a notice of
public disposition issued on June 27 and first
reported on by agent Richard Curtis. Potential bidders have until August 15
to submit competing offers and, should there be additional bidders, an auction
will be held on August 28 at the offices of Garfunkel Wild in Great Neck, NY.
Considering how long Dorchester's assets
have been up for grabs, it seems fairly likely that Amazon will emerge as
victor. If that's the case, Amazon will acquire "all publication contacts
regarding certain literary works (collectively, the “Works”) and related outbound license agreements
of DP (collectively, the “Contracts”),
subject to the purchaser negotiating certain amendments with the
authors of the Works in exchange for payment by Amazon Publishing of the full
amount of back royalties that DP indicates is owed to those authors as of May
31, 2012" as well as "any existing advances...records and
correspondence pertaining to the Works (including copies of W-9s and
1099s)...artwork and all print-ready files, book plates, flats, film negatives,
electronic design files, or other production materials...third party
permissions" and ebook editions, where available. Dorchester
Publishing has also agreed "to revert the rights to any Works not assigned
to Amazon Publishing following Amazon’'s
request."
No comments:
Post a Comment