Supreme Court rules freelancer settlement can stand

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that a federal court in New York did in fact have the authority to approve a 2005 settlement between publishers and freelance writers over the inclusion of their work in online databases, Reuters reported.

Six publishers and electronic database services, including Reed Elsevier and New York Times Company, agreed to pay $18 million after writers claimed their contracts gave the companies no right to “electronically reproduce their work or license it for others to do so.”

A federal judge in New York had approved the settlement, which was then thrown out by an appeals court that said the judge lacked jurisdiction over unregistered copyright claims. The Supreme Court was unanimous in its decision to overturn the appeals court’s decision.