Starting in July 2012, ebooks from Tom Doherty Associates imprints Tor, Forge, Orb, Starscape, and Tor Teen will be distributed without digital rights management.

The New York“based publisher, a subsidiary of Macmillan, posted the announcement on its blog on Tuesday:

Our authors and readers have been asking for this for a long time, said president and publisher Tom Doherty. 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.

The decision applies not just to frontlist titles and new releases, but will encompass the publisher’s entire catalogue. The DRM-free titles will be available for purchase from the usual ebook sellers, as well as from retailers specializing in DRM-free ebooks, such as Baen Books.