Defendent publishers and databases in Tasini v. New York Times have agreed to pay freelance writers US$18 million to resolve the case. The US Supreme Court, in a shocking 7-2 ruling in 2001, found that newspaper and magazine publishers infringed the copyrights of freelancers when the writers’ articles were published in electronic databases without permission. As I wrote at the time of the ruling, no remedy for the copyright infringement was outlined in the decision.
Those writers who registered their copyrights could receive up to US$1,500 for each article. The proposed settlement calls for payments of up to US$60 for articles on which the authors did not register the copyright. Details are available at the FreelanceRights.com website created by the National Writers Union, the Authors Guild, and the American Society of Journalists and Authors.
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