The $18-million settlement reached last week to compensate freelance writers for the use of their material in electronic databases brought more than 12 years of litigation and legal wrangling to an end. But while the settlement will compensate writers for past appropriation of their work, freelance writers now complain that the imposition of all-rights contracts continues the practice, effectively seizing their writing legally.
"The new settlement is terrific," said Jonathan Tasini, who was president of the National Writers Union when the association filed its copyright infringement lawsuit in 1993. "I wanted to educate writers about their rights, but it's nice to put money in their pockets." But Tasini was quick to point out that "in some ways, though, the landscape for freelance writers has gotten worse. I said at the beginning the suit wouldn't be enough." Tasini told PW that contracts used to be less explicit. "The reality is that old contracts were de facto all-rights-in-perpetuity contracts," said Tasini. "Now new contracts want everything with no compensation for giving up all these rights."
Others involved in the lawsuit said much the same. For Gerard Colby, current president of the NWU, writers need a way to deal with powerful publishers who, he said, offer take-it-or-leave-it contracts to freelancers. "Yes, writers are signing away their rights," said Colby. "Writers are Davids facing enormous media Goliaths."
Kay Murray, general counsel at the Authors Guild, said, "Contracts began changing right after Tasini filed his suit. In most cases, publishers like the New York Times will simply not use a writer who won't sign away their rights. The situation is not good." But, she added, "that can depend on the writers' skill at negotiating and, of course, their stature. Famous writers can get changes."
Tasini, now president of the Creators Federation, which works to support the ability of creators to control their intellectual property, said the solution to improving writers' conditions is simple though not easily accomplished. "Educate and organize," said Tasini. "Writers are mostly unaffiliated, and that gives industry giants a huge advantage."
