Audiotape Firm Fights Suit Over Best Seller : ‘Lonesome Dove’ Rights at Heart of Dispute

Last spring, Dove Books on Tape, a Studio City-based company that produces audiocassette tapes of books, began selling the audio version of the best-selling novel “Lonesome Dove,” which also was an Emmy-winning television miniseries earlier this year.

The tape seemed poised to be another in a string of audio hits to be produced by Dove, which, despite relatively small annual sales of about $5 million, has become one of the leading books-on-tape companies since its founding four years ago.

But Dove has temporarily lost “Lonesome Dove.” Shortly after Dove began shipping the tapes, the company was sued in federal court in Los Angeles by publishing giant Simon & Schuster, which has been publishing the Larry McMurtry novel since its debut in 1985.

Simon & Schuster, a unit of Paramount Communications and itself a major producer of books on tape, claims it also owns the sole audio rights to the book and that Dove was producing the tape illegally.

Restraining Order

Simon & Schuster quickly got a temporary restraining order blocking Dove’s sale of the tapes, after about 5,000 copies--which retailed for $14.95 each--had been shipped. And late last month, it won a preliminary injunction that keeps Dove from selling “Lonesome Dove” pending a trial. No trial date has been set.

Simon & Schuster also is suing Qintex Entertainment, which produced the TV miniseries and which licensed Dove to make the audio version based on the screenplay and sound track of the TV show. Much of the conversation on the audiotape, such as words spoken by the miniseries’ star, Robert Duvall, is taken directly from the show.

Dove and Qintex, which is part of the Qintex Group of Australia that has agreed to buy MGM/UA Communications, deny any wrongdoing. They contend that when Qintex obtained the TV rights to the book, it also was granted specific rights to adaptations--including audio--of its screenplay and miniseries.

But Elizabeth McNamara, a Simon & Schuster lawyer, said that “the screenplay is an adaptation of the book” and that her company controls “any adaptation” of the book. The company’s suit seeks a permanent halt to Dove’s production of the “Lonesome Dove” audiotape and an as yet unspecified amount of monetary damages.

Dove’s production of the “Lonesome Dove” audiocassette came to Simon & Schuster’s attention when a photograph appeared in the Times in March. The picture, accompanying a story of Dove and its founder, Michael Viner, showed actor Bruce Boxleitner reading some parts of the audio version of “Lonesome Dove” for Dove’s tape.

Countersuits Filed

Dove and Qintex, meanwhile, each have filed countersuits against Simon & Schuster, with each seeking $10 million in damages. Simon & Schuster has asked the court to dismiss both countersuits.

Dove’s suit alleges that Simon & Schuster contacted booksellers and warned them that if they kept selling Dove’s “Lonesome Dove” tape, they could be subject to contempt of court, said Dove lawyer Jessica Kaye. Dove is suing Simon & Schuster “for the damage they did to our relationship with the booksellers,” she said.

Qintex, among other things, is asking the court in its countersuit to declare that if Simon & Schuster’s claim to any adaptation of the book is upheld, that it “does not prevent us from releasing a videocassette version of the miniseries,” said Louis Petrich, a lawyer for Qintex.