US publisher drops ebook DRM

US publisher Tor has announced it will drop DRM from ebooks from July 2012.

The move affects all titles published under the Tor, Forge, Orb, Starscape, and Tor Teen brands.

“Our authors and readers have been asking for this for a long time,” said company president Tom Doherty in a blog post.

“They’re a technically sophisticated bunch, and DRM is a constant annoyance to them. It prevents them from using legitimately-purchased e-books in perfectly legal ways, like moving them from one kind of e-reader to another.”

Tor is owned by publishing house Macmillan.

Speculation has been rife in recent weeks that publishers would drop DRM. Much of the rumour has centred around the big publishers who have been forced to drop agency pricing after regulator action in the US.

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