Appeals Court Derails Settlement Between Freelancers & New York Times

Image via WikipediaRuling that the interests of certain freelance authors were not adequately represented, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit this week overturned a trial-court approved 2005 settlement between The New York Times and freelance writers who accused the Grey Lady of copyright infringement for electronically reproducing and posting their works in databases.

The decision, In re Literary Works in Electronic Databases Copyright Litigation (Case No.05-5943), represented an abuse of discretion by the trial court in certifying the freelance writers as a class and approving the parties' settlement, the appellate court ruled. Bloomberg News reports that neither the Times nor another publisher involved in the suit, Reed Elsevier Inc., had commented on the Second Circuit decision.