New York - A federal appeals court has overturned an agreement between freelance writers and publishers over compensation for works reproduced electronically, saying that the court has no jurisdiction in the matter, The New York Times reported.

The Supreme Court ruled in 2001 that publishers must seek permission from writers before reproducing their works electronically.

A 2005 federal court settlement that awarded some $18 million to freelancers for past usage of their works was thrown out by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit yesterday.

The majority opinion said that damages could only be sought by writers who had registered their works with the U.S. Copyright Office; most of them had not.

"The decision is an outrage, and I hope it's appealable to the Supreme Court," National Writers Union president Gerard Colby told The Times.

Defendants in the suit include Thomson (NYSE: TOC), The New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT), Dow Jones (NYSE: DJ), Tribune Company (NYSE: TRB) and Reed Elsevier's (NYSE: RUK) LexisNexis.

Related Links:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/30/business/media/30copyright.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/30/business/media/30freelance.html

http://www.nwu.org