Freelance writers win big settlement
By
Sue Davis
Published Apr 6, 2005 5:06 PM
An $18 million class-action settlement has finally
followed the landmark June 2001 Supreme Court copyright ruling in New York Times
et al. v. Tasini et al.
The decision had upheld that electronic use of
freelance writers’ work is a violation of their
copyrights.
It’s estimated that upwards of 100,000 freelance writers
whose work was sold by The New York Times and other named defendants to
electronic databases without the writers’ permission will be eligible to
make claims for damages.
Announced on March 30, this agreement is the
result of class-action lawsuits filed in 2000 by 21 members of the Authors
Guild, the American Society of Journalists and Authors, and the National Writers
Union, which were also associational plaintiffs.
The National Writers
Union, UAW Local 1981, brought the original lawsuit in 1993 with help from the
Auto Workers.
For more about the settlement, go to the NWU website:
www.nwu.org.
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