BRILL, FREE-LANCERS HOPEFUL ON WRITER PACT

By: Randy Dotinga Union Hopes Agreement Will Serve As Model For Publishers



Magazine publisher Steven Brill and a free-lance writers union are
nearing an agreement that they say will help all publishers resolve
disputes over electronic rights.



'This can end up being a very significant breakthrough and sort of a
way out of the morass and confusion that the rights situation is now
in,' said Brill, publisher of Brill's Content and CEO of Contentville.com,
a new sprawling collection of archived materials available for purchase.



After Contentville was unveiled on July 12, members of the National
Writers Union (NWU) complained that their work is available for sale
without their permission. Contentville links to archives of magazine
articles, screenplays, speeches and dissertations.



On Tuesday, Brill met at his office with Jonathan Tasini, president of
the 5,400-member NWU.



In the wake of a courtroom victory last September, the NWU is pressuring
newspapers and online archive companies to compensate free-lancers for
their work.



A federal court ruled that The New York Times and other publishers
infringed on the rights of free-lancers by including their old stories
in online archives without compensation. The ruling has been appealed.



Tasini said the NWU has discussed copyright issues with dozens of
publishers but has never met with anyone as cooperative as Brill. 'His
statements and his actions indicate that he is far and above trying to
act better than any other publisher we've tried to deal with,' Tasini
said.



Brill said there is no question that writers will get paid for their
work that appears on Contentville. 'That's not an issue, nor is it an
issue whether we'll take the stuff down if a writer doesn't like the
agreement we offer them,' he said.



The main discussion now is about how writers will be able to use
Contentville as a clearinghouse for their stories, Brill said.



He hinted that he may be leaning toward a royalties system that has
been set up by the NWU. The system is a 'perfect' way for writers to
send their work directly to Contentville, where it will be archived
for public access, Brill said. 'One of our intentions is to use
Contentville to put writers in business for themselves,' he said.



Tasini said he hopes an upcoming agreement will inspire other publishers
to resolve online archive issues. 'One of the things that the industry
needs is a model to show that this can work,' Tasini said. 'You need
something to shake it loose and get it rolling. Once people see that
publishers and writers can get together, we will see other similar deals
coming down the road.'







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Randy Dotinga is a free-lance writer based in San Diego. He writes
frequently for E&P Online.



Related stories:



CONTENTVILLE CATCHES WRITERS OFF GUARD (07/21/00)



FREE-LANCE UNION DEMANDS RESTITUTION FROM PAPERS (07/13/00)











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