LONG BEFORE AI, THE FIRST E-LAWSUIT (excerpt from Digital Inc.)

And Guess Who Was on the Bench?

Decades before the legal turmoil surrounding AI, a groundbreaking litigation was mounted by members of the National Writers Union, an alliance of some 27,000 authors and journalists founded in 1981 by Jonathan Tasini. The organization sued a number of periodicals including the New York Times, Newsday and Time Inc. for copyright infringement. These publishers had licensed the writers’ works to electronic databases without permission and without compensating the writers. The case went all the way up to the Supreme Court where, in 2001, the court confirmed that the plaintiffs’ work had been infringed. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg delivered the 7-2 opinion, resulting in an award of $18 million to the writers.

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If you enjoyed this excerpt, you’ll find many more surprising revelations in Digital Inc.: Inside the Transformation of the Book Industry from Print to E-Books. I wrote the book after I realized that so many people – writers, editors, and even readers – did not understand how radically the paradigm had shifted beneath their feet and before their very eyes. One day you were an analog person and the next you were digital. How did that happen? Digital Inc. will help you trace your steps.