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ninch-announce: Re: WRITERS LOSE COPYRIGHT CASE

ninch-announce: Re: WRITERS LOSE COPYRIGHT CASE

Re: WRITERS LOSE COPYRIGHT CASE

Maryly Snow (slides@ced.berkeley.edu)
Thu, 14 Aug 1997 19:38:59 -0700 (PDT) 

From: Maryly Snow <slides@ced.berkeley.edu>
Message-Id: <199708150238.TAA00748@chabot.ced.berkeley.edu>
Subject: Re: WRITERS LOSE COPYRIGHT CASE
To: ninch-announce@cni.org
Date: Thu, 14 Aug 1997 19:38:59 -0700 (PDT)
In-Reply-To: <v02130500b018c621eafb@[192.100.21.23]> from "David Green" at Aug 14, 97 10:36:40 am


Has anyone seen any information on the issues on which the case was 
lost? If so, I'd be very interested in seeing a summary of the judge's 
decision.  


Thank you.

Maryly Snow
slides@ced.berkeley.edu


> NINCH ANNOUNCEMENT
> August 14, 1997
> 
> 
> An extremely important and telling piece of news is contained in the
> following News Release from the National Writers Union.  The NWU president,
> Jonathan Tasini, lost a recent court case against several major publishers
> and electronic database operators. The claim was that the publishers were
> commercially re-distributing previously published writers' works on their
> electronic outlets without the permission of the writers and without
> compensating them.  The publishers involved are: The New York Times,
> Newsday, Sports Illustrated, Lexis/Nexis and the UMI Company.
> 
> The NWU is considering both an appeal and legislative action to counter
> this court decision.
> 
> David Green
> 
> =======================================================================
> > 
> > NEWS RELEASE
> > August 13, 1997
> >  
> >  Contact: Ann Filloramo or Tisha Davis-Memminger Phone: (212) 254-0279
> >  
> >  WRITERS CONSIDER APPEAL, LEGISLATIVE ACTION IN WAKE OF COPYRIGHT LAWSUIT
> >  DECISION
> >  
> > National Writers Union (NWU) president Jonathan Tasini today said that the
> > plaintiffs in a federal copyright suit against several major publishers
> > and electronic database operators were studying what appear to be strong
> > grounds for appeal of the judge's decision in favor of the defendants.
> >  
> > Tasini, the lead plaintiff in the widely discussed case, *Tasini et al. v.
> > The New York Times et al.*, said the NWU was also studying whether
> > legislative action might be more appropriate to redress the abuses of
> > writers' rights in the current practices of the emerging digital
> > publishing industry.
> >  
> > In her decision, Judge Sonia Sotomayor of the U.S. District Court for the
> > Southern District of New York ruled that *The New York Times*, *Newsday*,
> > *Sports Illustrated*, Lexis/Nexis and the UMI Company had not infringed
> > the rights of freelance writers under the Copyright Act. The practice in
> > dispute involves the commercial redistribution of previously published
> > articles without the permission of the writers and without compensating
> > them.
> >  
> > "The fight for a fair share continues," Tasini said. "When
> > multimillion-dollar media companies make a dollar from the sweat of their
> > contributors' brows, those creators deserve to share in the profits. That
> > is what copyright is all about -- preserving independent, vital and
> > diverse voices in American journalism and American culture."
> >  
> > Tasini added that an analysis of the decision shows that the plaintiffs
> > did prevail on several of their most important assertions. "We are pleased
> > that Judge Sotomayor rejected the publishers' disingenuous claims that the
> > writers had explicitly transferred our rights to our work," he said. "We
> > did no such thing, and we continue to advise freelancers to hold on to
> > their rights unless they are paid a fair amount to license them."
> >  
> > In addition, the NWU president noted, "The judge seems to throw the ball
> > to Congress, which she says is free to revise Section 201(c) of the
> > Copyright Act, around which much of the lawsuit revolved. The community of
> > freelance writers, photographers and graphic artists can now rise to that
> > challenge and make their legislators pay attention to their rights as well
> > as to the public's interest in new media technologies."
> >  
> > In the wake of the decision and the assault on writers' rights by the
> > issuing of all-rights contracts, Tasini called on President Clinton to
> > establish a blue-ribbon presidential commission to study the condition of
> > writers and their disappearing livelihood and all creators throughout the
> > country. Tasini said: "In his State of the Union address this year, the
> > president praised writers as an integral part of our society. He must now
> > act decisively to insure that we survive to fulfill our societal mission."
> > 
> >  
> > The National Writers Union, Local 1981 of United Auto Workers, represents
> > 4,600 freelance journalists, book authors, technical writers and others.
> > On behalf of the NWU, president Tasini thanked Steve Yokich, President of
> > the United Auto Workers, for its financial support of the lawsuit.
> >  
> > #      #       #
> >  
> > ***************************************************************************
> > National Writers Union     National Writers Union
> > National Office West   National Office East
> > 337 - 17th Street, Suite 101   113 University Place, 6th Floor
> > Oakland, CA 94612      New York, NY 10003
> > Phone: (510) 839-0110  Phone: (212) 254-0279
> > Fax: (510) 839-6097    Fax: (212) 254-0673
> > email: <nwu@nwu.org>   email: <nwu@nwu.org>
> >  
> > UAW LOCAL 1981 / AFL-CIO
> > WORLD WIDE WEB: <http://www.nwu.org/nwu/>
> > ***************************************************************************

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