Source: http://freelancerights.blogspot.com/2009/10/at-bell-in-reed-elsevier-v-muchnick.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-22 06:25:22+00:00

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Oral argument in the landmark freelance writers' rights case, Reed Elsevier v. Muchnick, will be heard at the Supreme Court of the United States on Wednesday, October 7, at 11 a.m. Eastern time. The transcript of the session should be published within hours at http://www.supremecourtus.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts.html.
The question before the Court is: "Does 17 U.S.C. Sec. 411(a) restrict the subject matter jurisdiction of the federal courts over copyright infringement actions?"
In 2007, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, in an unprompted or sua sponte ruling, answered that question in the affirmative, thus invalidating a global settlement of a copyright dispute between freelance writers and periodical publishers and their electronic database licensees. The settlement was in a consolidation of class actions called In re Literary Works in Electronic Databases Copyright Litigation. That settlement, in turn, was an offshoot of the 2001 Supreme Court case Tasini v. New York Times. A slate of objectors had opposed the approval of the settlement in 2005 by the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York, and appealed to the Second Circuit. The Supreme Court this year renamed the case Reed Elsevier v. Muchnick.
Wednesday's Supreme Court argument time has been allocated to Charles Sims of Proskauer Rose (counsel for lead petitioner Reed Elsevier); U.S. Solicitor General Elena Kagan (arguing the government's position, which also advocates for reversal of the Second Circuit's jurisdiction ruling); and Deborah Jones Merritt (appointed by the Supreme Court to defend the Second Circuit decision). The attorneys for the objector-respondents -- Charles Chalmers and the Stanford Law School Supreme Court Litigation Clinic, directed by Pamela Karlan and Jeffrey Fisher -- will not be making oral arguments. Nor will the attorneys for the named plaintiffs.
High Court watchers will be studying not only whether the justices overturn the Second Circuit, but also how they arrive at their decision. The grounds for the ruling will have a major impact on whether this settlement could be saved and how those efforts would proceed. The highly publicized Google Books settlement, which is currently delayed by objections at the district court level, also could be affected by how Reed Elsevier v. Muchnick plays out.
Congratulations to The Washington Monthly on Two Decades of Willful Copyright Infringement!
"Reed Elsevier v. Muchnick" Is About the Hijacking of "Tasini v. Times"

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