ARL Announces..ALA and ARL File amici curiae Brief in Tasini Case

[Ann Okerson <ann.okerson@yale.edu>]

Further to the discourse in liblicense-l about librarians' respecting
copyright, please see the ARL announcement about the Tasini brief that ALA
and ARL jointly filed, in support of freelance authors.  Ann Okerson

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Julia Blixrud [mailto:jblix@arl.org]
Sent: Monday, February 26, 2001 11:36 AM
To: Multiple recipients of list
Subject: ARL Announces..ALA and ARL File amici curiae Brief in Tasini
Case

PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
February 16, 2001
Contact: Frank DiFulvio 202-628-8410

The American Library Association and the Association of Research Libraries
file an amici curiae brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in the copyright
lawsuit, The New York Times v. Tasini

"Both groups filed their "friend of the court" brief today in support of
the freelance authors to help the Court understand the practical effect of
the issues at stake in this case"

     Washington D.C.  The American Library Association (ALA) and the
Association of Research Libraries (ARL) have jointly filed an amici curiae
brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in the copyright lawsuit, The New York
Times v.Tasini.

     The New York Times, and other plaintiff publishers, are asking the
Supreme Court to overturn a ruling by the Federal Appeals Court for the
Second Circuit in favor of freelance authors whose works were published in
periodicals and newspapers, and then licensed by the publishers to vendors
of electronic databases. ALA and ARL filed their "friend of the court"
brief in support of the freelance authors -- to help the Court understand
the practical effect of the issues at stake in this case.

     The Second Circuit held that the Copyright Act does not give
commercial electronic database publishers the privilege of reproducing and
distributing the copyrighted works of freelance authors in and through
certain online electronic databases and certain CD-ROM products.  The
court said that unless the publishers had obtained the permission of the
authors, providing the articles for inclusion in full-text databases was
an infringement of the authors' copyrights.

     ALA and ARL support the appeals court ruling that calls for
compensation to freelance writers for the use of their work. However, this
ruling presents significant challenges to libraries because of the
possibility for incomplete archival databases. This is because older works
currently reside in electronic databases for which seeking retroactive
permission may be difficult.

     "ALA and ARL strongly believe that there are constructive ways for
the Court to address the remedial phase of this case which is fair to both
freelance authors and the public," insists Miriam Nisbet, Legislative
Counsel for the American Library Association's Washington Office.
"Freelance authors should be compensated for their work, but the public
interest in having access to their material should also be recognized and
respected - without having to create a crises that the publishers have
suggested is inevitable if the authors are victories in this case," she
concluded.

    "Both ALA and ARL suggest that a solution to the issues raised in this
case could be a system of payment to freelance writers which would result
in a complete and historical record in many formats. Such a solution would
further the public interest in access to these works," concluded Prudence
Adler, the Association of Research Libraries Associate Executive Director.

The brief can be found at
<http://www.arl.org/info/frn/copy/tasini.html>.

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----------------------------------- 
Julia C. Blixrud <jblix@arl.org> 
 Director of Information Services, ARL <www.arl.org> 
 Assistant Director, Public Programs, SPARC <www.arl.org/sparc/> 
  21 Dupont Circle, Washington DC 20036 
Tel: (202) 296-2296 ext.133 Fax: (202) 872-0884 Cell: (202) 251-4678