Wayback Wednesday: Tasini v. New York Times, Co.

One of my favorite copyright court cases is Tasini v. New York Times (filed in 1997), both because of its potential impact on databases and that I am a freelance author.  When looking online for information this case, the trail from its beginning to its final conclusion is not well documented. You have to know that it took several twists and turns in order to find those twists and turns.  And you have to know that there were two similarly named cases AND that there was at least one other case (class action lawsuit) which related to Tasini v. NYT.

When I do an Internet search on this case, I easily find older articles from the early decisions in this case.  Places like Wikipedia, which a person might use to locate additional sources, currently (May 2017) contains older information and is incomplete.  Therefore, it would be easy for anyone to research this case and come to an incorrect decision about its final conclusion (which actually occurred in 2014).

With all this in mind, I have compiled resources which can help someone research Tasini v. New York Times.  These should provide someone with "guideposts", which can help understand the path of the case and then locate additional resources.  (And if  this blog post does help a newbie understand Tasini, then I'll be pleased.)

Relevant Digitization 101 blog posts:

• Writers Settle Tasini Case for $18 Million (2005)
• Tasini v. New York Times: With the Freelance Settlement Rejected, What's Next? (2011)

Additional Resources on Tasini v. NYT and NYT v. Tasini:

• TASINI v. NEW YORK TIMES CO. (1997) [Leagle]
• Tasini v. New York Times Co., 972 F. Supp. 804 (S.D.N.Y. 1997) [Justia]
• TASINI v. NEW YORK TIMES CO. (2000) [Leagle]
• Tasini v. New York Times Co., Inc., 184 F. Supp. 2d 350 (S.D.N.Y. 2002) [Justia]
• Twenty Years Later, Landmark Digital Lawsuit Concludes (2014) [Publishers Weekly]
• New York Times Co. v. Tasini 533 U.S. 483 (2001) [Justia]
• New York Times Co. v. Tasini (2002) [Berkeley]
• Copyright Class Action web site