'Parties Now Appear Very Close to Finalizing a Settlement'

Here is the text of a letter faxed today by Michael Boni, lead plaintiffs' counsel in the Freelance case, to Judge George B. Daniels. Re: In re Literary Works in Electronic Databases Copyright Litigation, MDL No. 1379 Dear Judge Daniels, I write on behalf of plaintiffs, in response to Your Honor's request for a status update. As Your Honor knows, the Second Circuit ruled last August 2011 not to affirm this Court's approval of the amended settlement. After the appellees' motions for rehearing were denied in November 2011, the parties and the objectors' counsel have been negotiating in an attempt to reach a global resolution of this matter. The talks have accelerated since March 14, 2012, when the parties and objectors' counsel has a mediation session at Ken Feinberg's New York offices. In April 2012, I wrote to Your Honor explaining that progress had been made but that more time was needed. Unfortunately, that is still the case. Fortunately, however, the parties now appear very close to finalizing a settlement. We will notify the Court in advance of filing preliminary settlement approval motion papers, and propose that in any event we update this status report in approximately 60 days. If the Court wishes a report sooner than that, we are available at the Court's convenience to provide it.