Information Today: 'WE'VE NOT SEEN THE LAST OF THE COPYRIGHT CLASS ACTION'

Information Today, the industry bible, has published a NewsBreak headlined "We've Not Seen the Last of the Copyright Class Action." It was written by regular contributor Carol Ebbinghouse, who also is director of the California Second District Court of Appeal Library.

The article is viewable at http://www.infotoday.com/newsbreaks/nb051010-1.shtml. Ebbinghouse writes in part:

Muchnick says that this settlement will be appealed. I agree. Freelance authors, if they received word about making their claims at all, were apparently put off by the legal language and the complicated instructions. They didn’t understand that, under the terms of the settlement, they were out of luck if they failed to opt out by Sept. 12 or make a claim by Sept. 30, 2005. If they were members of the lead plaintiff organizations and relied upon their Web sites, they were let down.

Going beyond the questionable notice measures taken, the issues are too important not to appeal: copyright issues, creator’s rights, publishers’ and database vendors’ responsibilities—and, of course, money.