FREE-LANCERS SUE BOSTON GLOBE

By: Lucia Moses Globe's Web-use Agreement Rejected By Free-lancers


Free-lancers of The Boston Globe sued the paper June 12 over a
proposed agreement seeking the right to use their past and future
material in print and on the Web without additional payment.



The Globe had asked about 750 of its most often-used freelancer
writers, photographers, and illustrators to sign the agreement by July
1 if they want to continue getting work from the paper. As of June 13,
293 had signed it, a Globe spokesman said.



The suit, filed in Massachusetts Superior Court on behalf of about
1,000 Globe free-lancers, accuses the Globe of violating
the state's unfair business practice law. The suit is supported by The
National Writers Union, Graphic Artists Guild, and American Society of
Media Photographers and seeks an injunction against the agreement. A
hearing is set for June 23.



The Globe devised the agreement in response to a September 1999
federal appeals court ruling that barred the New York Times Co., parent
of the Globe, and other publishers from using free-lancers' work
in databases without their permission.



Currently, the Globe only posts free-lancers' work on its Web
site, Boston.com, with the free-lancer's consent, resulting in gaps in
its online content, Globe spokesman Richard Gulla said.



'The Internet has opened up incredible distribution channels,' Gulla
said. 'The Globe online isn't the Globe in print. We want
the two to be compatible.'



Although the Globe deal doesn't include more money, the free-

lancers would keep copyright to their work and would continue to be
allowed to resell it outside the Globe's primary circulation
area, Gulla said. The Globe would be permitted to use the work
on its Web site and in print but would continue to be barred from
selling the work to third parties, he said.



But the proposal is unacceptable to the free-lancers, said Boston
lawyer Ira Sills, who filed the suit on their behalf.



'Basically, the Globe is asking to have the right to use everything the
free-lancers have ever done for the Globe, even though they had a prior
contract saying we're paying you for first-time publication rights,'
Sills said. 'The free-lancers aren't trying to damn the Internet, they
just want an opportunity to share in the process.'



Gulla said the Globe's proposal compares fairly to that of other
major metro papers, which want to keep all copyrights to their free-

lancers' material. Sills countered that other publications have offered
extra pay to post free-lance material on the Web and haven't demanded
that the agreement apply to past work, as the Globe's does.