Warns legal action against Jørn Lier Horst:

– For a long time we have tried to avoid this step, because a publisher does not want to sue their own authors. But we have no other choice, because this is serious. We cannot accept that there are pirated copies in circulation, says publisher Ann-Kristin Vasselen in Lydbokforlaget to VG.

Lydbokforlaget in a new article: That is why we are taking legal action against Jørn Lier Horst.

Jørn Lier Horst has recorded new editions of 21 audiobooks that Lydbokforlaget believes have the rights to. At the end of October, eight of these books were released and streamed on Ebok Pluss, with Lydbokforlaget telling VG that they see them as “illegal pirated copies”. Something that both Lier Horst and Ebok disagree with.

Read the case here: He accuses Jørn Lier Horst of piracy

It is now against the law if these audiobook titles are not retired for sale, warns Lydbokforlaget and Gyldendal (who own 50 percent of Lydbokforlaget).

– Today we have sent a due process notice in which we write that legal action can be taken if these book titles are not removed from the market in a week, says Vasselen.

The notification is sent to Jørn Lier Horst and sent to Petter Stordalen’s Strawberry Publishing and relevant sales channels for information.

– We believe that the sale that is happening now of these titles is illegal and should stop, says Vasselen.

– Jørn Lier Horst and Strawberry Publishing do not agree that this is illegal. Do you think you have the rights?

– Here we totally disagree. We have the rights to the audiobooks, Vasselen says.

Lier Horst: Naughty!

Jørn Lier Horst tells VG that he thinks it is rude to refer to new recordings of his audiobooks as pirated copies.

– I’m pretty clear that I think this is legal, and I think it’s rude to call audiobooks pirated. It is I who have written these stories, it is my intellectual work, and it is strange to refer to it as pirated copies, says Lier Horst to VG.

It emphasizes that they have tried to meet Lydbokforlaget with a solution offer, but they won’t exactly get into what it is all about.

– The other authors and I have outlined several solution proposals with which Lydbokforlaget has not received us. The fact that they are now announcing legal action is just as expected. They already got it out on time, and I expect legal clarification soon, says Lier Horst, who says he has both the Writers Association and the Writers Association behind him.

– After Lydbokforlaget came up with his first objections to me getting the rights back, I have consulted with the Writers Association and the Writers Association who support me on this, says Lier Horst.

Authors Association: Authors are tired of not getting paid for their books

The disagreement lies in the details of the audio contract between the authors and Lydbokforlaget, which is about whether the publisher has maintained its duty of activity. Editorial Director Vasselen believes that there can be no doubt that they have maintained the duty of activity with respect to Jørn Lier Horst, even though the old contract deals with the sale of audiobooks on CD.

Read more in the Lydbokforlaget column: That is why we are taking legal action against Jørn Lier Horst.

– They will sell strawberries that they have taken from others

– They believe they have the right to terminate the contract because we have not sold 300 audiobooks on CD per year. While we believe that we have maintained our duty to a very high degree. We’ve helped make Jørn Lier Horst one of Norway’s top earning authors for audiobooks. What we think seems obvious now is that Strawberry Publishing is trying to secure the rights to the audiobooks by taking them from other publishers.

– They want to sell strawberries they have taken from someone else’s field, Vasselen believes.

Also read the article by Lier Horst and company: Fear and disgust in the Norwegian publishing industry

Alexander Even Henriksen, CEO of Strawberry Publishing, responds to accusations of stealing both the rights and authors of others:

– This is the rebellion of an author. I know that Lydbokforlaget tries to turn it into a game between publishers, but I think it disqualifies the voices and the case of the authors, and actually shows the attitude of Lydbokforlaget towards the authors only as pieces for the publishers. This is how we refuse to treat perpetrators. It is their voices that must be heard. That’s all I want to say in this case, says Henriksen.

– But are you the one who now claims to manage the rights to the audiobooks of these authors and has signed a proxy agreement with Ebok Pluss?

– Yes, it’s true, says Henriksen.

I don’t care about judgment

Jørn Lier Horst’s attorney, Jon Wessel-Aas, still believes they have a good case and is not worried about a potential lawsuit.

– It’s about Gyldendal and Lydbokforlaget trying to interpret new rights in an old audiobook deal. But what it says is that if they don’t sell a certain number of physical audiobooks per year, the rights go back to the authors. That is what has happened here. That contract has never given them the broadcast rights, and they also acknowledge it, says Wessel-Aas.

– But Lydbokforlaget believes that despite everything, they have maintained the obligation of activity, because they have helped to make Lier Horst the best-selling author of audiobooks in the country?

– Lydbokforlaget does not have the transmission rights, but at the same time and contradictory it believes that they maintain the activity obligation precisely by offering transmission – also only through Fabel, which has only 25% of the market. They behave as if they have an agreement that they don’t, and we assume a court will see that too, Wessel-Aas believes.

Jørn Lier Horst also reacts to the fact that Lydbokforlaget uses it as an argument that they have helped him become Norway’s best-selling audiobook author.

– The starting point of this conflict is that I want my books to be available on Storytel. For Lydbokforlaget to say that they have brought me huge income from streaming on Fabel is the same as saying that since I sell so many books on Norli, the books don’t need to be on ARK, says Lier Horst.

More audiobooks will be published

This will be just the beginning of an onslaught of new audiobook posts: the seven authors Jørn Lier Horst, Unni Lindell, Anne B. Ragde, Vetle Lid Larsen, Thomas Enger, Tom Kristensen and Tom Egeland, who this fall launched on VG against the leading Norwegian publishers Cappelen Damm, Aschehoug and Gyldendal and their streaming services Storytel and Fabel have re-recorded a total of 84 of their audiobooks.

The author’s uprising: The giants rule

The CEO of Cappelen Damm responded to the seven authors: When a few want all the cake

The books were intended to be available on Storytel, Cappelen Damm’s streaming service, which has a much larger market share than Fabel from Lydbokforlaget (owned by Gyldendal and Aschehoug). But Storytel said no because of the dispute over the rights to the books.

Based on VG’s experience, the plan is to publish all 84 books, which include several bestselling series books such as Anne B. Ragde’s “Berlinerpoplene”, the Jørn Lier Horst Wisting series, and Unni Lindell’s crime series on Cato Isaksen, on the Ebok Pluss assembly line.

Ebok leader Lene Røren has made it clear that they support the authors, that they have the right to regain their rights, and has told VG that she is not concerned about the rights dispute.

Horst has previously played a secret role in the Lørenskog investigation. Here’s what he’s saying about the case now – watch the video!