Thursday, March 29, 2001

Arguments in Electronic-Publishing Case Cite Possible Impact on Scholarship By SARAH CARR Washington At the Supreme Court on Wednesday, arguments in a case on electronic publishing raised the possibility that the court's ruling could have broad repercussions for the future of scholarly research. During arguments in the case, The New York Times Company v. Jonathan Tasini, lawyers for the two sides debated whether publishers violate copyright laws by distributing freelancers' articles on the Internet and on CD-ROM's without the authors' permission. Most of the discussion focused on the details of copyright laws and how -- or whether -- they should be rethought or revised as a result of the Internet. But one justice and the lawyer who is representing the Times and other publishers both expressed concern that if the freelancers win the suit, librarians will be forced to delete thousands of articles from electronic databases because the publishing companies will not be able to find or afford to compensate all of the authors. "They would have no choice but to engage in massive, defensive deletions," said Laurence H. Tribe, the Harvard Law School professor who is arguing the publishing companies' case. Justice Stephen G. Breyer added: "We may wipe out much of the history of the 20th century. Most scholars today are looking for information electronically." The works of lesser-known writers might disappear, Justice Breyer added, because it would be "too expensive to locate each heir," for instance, if the writer was deceased. In his presentation, Laurence Gold, the lawyer for the freelancers, did not focus on the impact on scholarly research, but instead tried to respond to the justices' questions about precisely when, in the process of transferring articles into electronic databases, copyright infringements occur. In February, the American Library Association and the Association of Research Libraries filed a brief in the case arguing that the publishers had exaggerated the degree to which electronic databases have replaced the physical library. A group of prominent historians -- including David McCullough and Doris Kearns Goodwin -- has come down on the other side of the issue, however, filing a brief in support of the publishers. They argue that deleting articles from electronic databases could be detrimental to scholarly research. Easy-to-print version E-mail this article

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