Preview of Muchnick Piece Tomorrow at Beyond Chron
Supreme Court’s “Muchnick” Ruling Keeps Dream of a Fair Royalty System Alive
by Irvin Muchnick
As the Muchnick of the Supreme Court’s freelance journalists’ class-action copyright case Reed Elsevier v. Muchnick, I believe yesterday’s ruling is a very good thing – but not for the reason that will have been promoted all over the mainstream media by the time this essay is published.
The New York Times, Reuters news service, and other corporate publishers can be counted on to do their usual linguistic and journalistic contortions to suggest that the justices, by this ruling, approve of the settlement of the lawsuit that was reached years ago between the periodicals industry and their electronic database partners, and a group of plaintiffs stage-managed by the Authors Guild, the National Writers Union (NWU), and the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA).
The reason the Court’s action is good news is that it keeps alive the dream of a reasonable royalty system for reuse of copyrighted works in new media. This, in turn, would empower independent creators – who currently lie prostrate before big publishers – and enhance the diversity and vitality of American culture.
CONTINUED TOMORROW MORNING
ON THE FRONT PAGE AT BEYOND CHRON,
THE SAN FRANCISCO ONLINE NEWSPAPER
(http://beyondchron.org)
by Irvin Muchnick
As the Muchnick of the Supreme Court’s freelance journalists’ class-action copyright case Reed Elsevier v. Muchnick, I believe yesterday’s ruling is a very good thing – but not for the reason that will have been promoted all over the mainstream media by the time this essay is published.
The New York Times, Reuters news service, and other corporate publishers can be counted on to do their usual linguistic and journalistic contortions to suggest that the justices, by this ruling, approve of the settlement of the lawsuit that was reached years ago between the periodicals industry and their electronic database partners, and a group of plaintiffs stage-managed by the Authors Guild, the National Writers Union (NWU), and the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA).
The reason the Court’s action is good news is that it keeps alive the dream of a reasonable royalty system for reuse of copyrighted works in new media. This, in turn, would empower independent creators – who currently lie prostrate before big publishers – and enhance the diversity and vitality of American culture.
CONTINUED TOMORROW MORNING
ON THE FRONT PAGE AT BEYOND CHRON,
THE SAN FRANCISCO ONLINE NEWSPAPER
(http://beyondchron.org)
posted by Irv Muchnick at 4:12 PM
2 Comments:
"The reason the Court’s action is good news is that it keeps alive the dream of a reasonable royalty system for reuse of copyrighted works in new media."
No, it doesn't.
Why? Because within minutes of the Tasini decision in 2001, publishers started requiring freelancers to sign away their rights to any future digital use. Thus, since 2001, there have not been new works created that could actually earn future royalty fees. The only way that a royalty system could exist in the future is if the Supreme Court ruled that publishers could not require freelancers to sign those contracts.
The court's "Muchnick" ruling has zero to do with anything other than works created prior to 2001.
And there was nothing in the Court's ruling that set any kind of precedent for the future. Even if the appeals court tosses out the agreement & new negotiations begin, it would relate ONLY to compensation for pre-2001 infringement.
Moxie continues with what I think is a sadly wooden and inorganic grasp of how law and politics dance. And the objectors will continue to do our thing with hope and confidence that we're moving the ball downfield. He thinks the game is over. I think it's just getting started.
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