A spokesperson for the National Writers Union has told PW that a final agreement on the damages to be levied against the New York Times and its co-defendants in a 2001 Supreme Court ruling on copyright infringement is "imminent."
Another source close to the case has told PW that a partial settlement has already been reached with the six original plaintiffs. A settlement on the damages levied for three class-action suits, representing thousands of plaintiffs, is pending.
The case in question, Tasini v. The New York Times, was first filed in 1993. In the final decision, the Supreme Court ruled 7 to 2 that the New York Times and its co-defendants had violated the copyrights of freelance writers by reusing their writing in electronic databases and other digital publications without their permission. After the ruling, the three class-action cases were joined to the Tasini suit and the combined suits were remanded to a district court to determine the amount of damages. The Times's co-defendants are Newsday, Time Warner, Lexis-Nexis and University Microfilms, now known as ProQuest. The lead plaintiff, Jonathan Tasini, was the former head of the NWU.
Thomas Gradel, a spokesperson for the National Writers Union, told PW that the NWU is "very close" to an agreement on damages to be levied against the defendants, which will then be paid to all parties in the class action. Gerard Colby, current NWU president, declined to provide more details, but told PW that negotiations were continuing and a final agreement had not yet been signed.
