Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Freelancers

Posted on June 25, 2001

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled 7-2 in favor of freelancers in the New York Times v. Tasini case. The Court upheld a September 1999 unanimous ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals, 2nd Circuit, which found that The New York Times and publishers had committed copyright infringement when they resold freelance newspaper and magazine articles, via electronic databases such as LexisNexis, without asking permission or making additional payments to the original authors.

``The Court has upheld the spirit of the Constitutional protection for copyright, which was written for the benefit of individual authors,'' said Jonathan Tasini, president of the National Writers Union and the lead plaintiff in Tasini vs. New York Times. ``Now, it's time for the media industry to negotiate to pay creators their fair share.''

Publishers have argued that the ruling could have devastating consequences, punching gaping holes in the electronic record of history. The Court found these arguments unavailing. However, in response to the ruling the New York Times is pulling over 100,000 freelance articles from Lexis-Nexis.

Arthur Sulzberger, Jr., publisher of The Times and chairman of The New York Times Company, said, "Unfortunately, today's decision means that everyone loses. The Times has lost this case and will now undertake the difficult and sad process of removing significant portions from its electronic historical archive. That is a loss for freelance writers because their articles will be removed from the historical record. Historians, scholars and the public lose because of the holes in history created by the removal of these articles from electronic issues of newspapers such as The Times."

Jonathan Tasini and the NWU are encouraging publishers to settle with freelancers and use the NWU's Publication Rights Clearinghouse. The Publication Rights Clearinghouse, said Tasini, established by the NWU in 1993, offers a way for writers and publishers to track the ownership of copyright, and payment for authorized re-sale of copyrighted works.

The case itself will revert back to the lower courts where damages will be determined. Publishers, such as the New York Times Company, have stated that they will begin pulling articles from online databases. Publishers and database providers appear ready to try and persuade Congress to draft new legislation granting them permission to use and resell electronic versions of the freelance articles before settling or negotiating with the NWU.