NYTimes.com Article: High Court Sides With Freelance Writers inElectronic Rights Case

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

Major news for all of us.   Ann Okerson

---------- Forwarded message ----------

Supremes decide Tasini in favor of writers
High Court Sides With Freelance Writers in Electronic Rights Case

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 10:57 a.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Ruling against big media companies in an information
age dispute Monday, the Supreme Court said free-lance writers may control
whether articles they sold for print in a regular newspaper or magazine
may be reproduced in electronic form.

The court ruled 7-2 that compilation in an electronic database is
different from other kinds of archival or library storage of material that
once appeared in print. That means that copyright laws require big media
companies such as The New York Times to get free-lancers' permission
before posting their work online.

Justices Stephen Breyer and John Paul Stevens dissented.

At issue was how to treat copyright works when technological advances
changed the way information would be available in ways neither the writer
nor the publication foresaw.

Although seemingly esoteric, the copyright fight goes to the heart of the
Internet's basic appeal to researchers and casual users -- how much
information is available at the click of a computer mouse.

Large publishers argued that if they lost, they would probably remove a
lot of material from electronic view rather than fight with writers over
permission and fees.

The case turned on whether electronic reproduction of a newspaper or
periodical constitutes a revision of the original print edition. Under
copyright law, publishers do not need authors' permission to produce a
revised version of the original edition.

The case largely affects articles, photographs and illustrations produced
a decade or so ago -- before free-lance contracts provided for the
material's electronic use.

Six free-lance writers sued The New York Times, Newsday, Time Inc. and
other publishers over inclusion of their work in electronic databases.
Some databases require the user to pay a fee, such as LEXIS/NEXIS, while
others are available free over the Internet.

A federal judge first ruled for the publishers, throwing out the writers'
suit on grounds that electronic databases are revisions under the
copyright law.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York reversed in 1999,
finding that copyright law required publishers to seek authors'
permission.

The case is New York Times v. Tasini, 00-201. 

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Scotus-Free-Lance.html?ex=994485244&ei=1&en=56d5cb000908ea72

/-----------------------------------------------------------------\


Visit NYTimes.com for complete access to the most authoritative news
coverage on the Web, updated throughout the day.

Become a member today! It's free!

http://www.nytimes.com?eta


\-----------------------------------------------------------------/

For general information about NYTimes.com, write to help@nytimes.com.

Copyright 2001 The New York Times Company