San Diego

Many published scientists could be eligible for a share in a $7.25 million settlement resulting from a federal lawsuit in Oakland, California. Approved by the US District Court late last month, the fund will compensate authors who have had reprints of published articles sold without their consent.

The class action lawsuit was launched two years ago when five authors sued UnCover, a document delivery firm based in Denver, Colorado, claiming that they had been cheated of royalty payments. Although the original plaintiffs were freelance writers and journalists, scientists are among the potential beneficiaries, as many of the articles distributed by UnCover were from scientific journals.

The compensation could be worth as much as $30,000 per document delivery. But the actual amount will depend on the number of authors who successfully file claims, and may not be so high.

Any author who retained the rights to their work after initial publication is eligible to apply for compensation. Three-quarters of the settlement fund, less the estimated $3 million in legal costs for the plaintiffs' attorneys, has been set aside for such claims. The remaining quarter will go to authors who did not register their US copyright, but retained the right after first publication.

“Selling individual articles electronically without authors' permission has been an industry-wide practice,” says John Shuff, one of the authors' attorneys. He expects the case to have a significant impact on the burgeoning world of Internet publishing.

In some cases, UnCover had made arrangements to secure rights from publishers to distribute documents. But it had not always reached agreement with the authors. As part of the settlement, UnCover — now owned by the British firm Ingenta — has agreed to seek the permission of authors and pay royalties in the future.

Robert Eisenbach, an attorney representing UnCover and Knight-Ridder, a previous owner of the company, said the settlement was reached to avoid future litigation costs.

Some observers believe that the agreement might hinder the distribution of scientific literature. Stevan Harnad, a professor of cognitive sciences at the University of Southampton in England, calls it “nothing but short-sighted nonsense”. Others feel scientists are entitled to be paid for their work, just like any other author.

It is uncertain how many scientists are eligible for compensation because of the different arrangements between authors and publishers. Authors can check on the web whether UnCover distributed their articles. Claims must be filed by 27 October 2000.

http://www.uncoversettlement.com