National Writers Union/UnCover announcement

NATIONAL WRITERS UNION AND THE UNCOVER COMPANY CREATE COPYRIGHT MODEL FOR ELECTRONIC DATABASE INDUSTRY       DENVER, March 4 /PRNewswire/ -- The UnCover Company and the National Writers Union (NWU) have announced the creation of the first-ever transaction-based writers' royalty system in the new electronic media. Under the agreement, the NWU will clear copyrights and distribute royalties to writers for fax delivery orders from UnCover. With more than 7 million citations from 17,000 periodicals, UnCover is the largest magazine and journal article database in the world.

    To handle the royalty system the National Writers Union has formed Publication Rights Clearinghouse (PRC), which will operate out of the NWU's West Coast office in Oakland, Calif. Both NWU members and nonmembers  are eligible to enroll.

    UnCover's index is freely accessible over the Internet and through numerous on-line libraries. With more than 4,000 entries added daily, UnCover is the largest, most up-to-the-minute periodical index in existence. Orders for articles from the database are filled via fax and copyright fees are collected and paid. Denver-based CARL Corporation is the original creator of UnCover and continues to offer the service to libraries nationwide.

    "We have always been diligent about copyright fees," said Rebecca T. Lenzini, president of CARL Corporation. "This exciting arrangement with the National Writers Union uses existing technology to make sure creators receive a fair share of the revenue from the emerging information industry. We are pleased to have the NWU as a partner in our mission of making journal and magazine material available both quickly and economically throughout the world, while affirming the principles of copyright."

    NWU President Jonathan Tasini added, "With UnCover's vision and support, we are helping to point the way for every writer, graphic artist, videographer or photographer who struggles to get paid fairly in the new digital markets. We look forward to turning this model of copyright clearance into the standard of the electronic database industry. PRC also expects to share and develop collective-licensing solutions with other companies in the business of reusing the works of freelancers -- whether via full-text databases, CD-ROM's, or the World Wide Web."

    CARL Corporation was established in 1988 to market and develop the CARL System, which supports more than 420 libraries nationwide. The UnCover Company, founded in 1993, provides an on-line article delivery service, a table of contents database and a keyword index for more than 17,000 journals worldwide. Both companies are wholly-owned affiliates of Knight-Ridder Information, Inc., a world leader in electronic information access and delivery. For more information on UnCover, contact Martha Whittaker, The UnCover Company, 3801 E. Florida, Suite 200, Denver, CO 80210, phone 303-758-3030, fax 303-758-5946 or e-mail uncover[_at_]carl.org.

    The National Writers Union, an affiliate of United Auto Workers, represents nearly 4,500 writers in all genres. For more information on enrollment in the Publication Rights Clearinghouse, please contact Irvin Muchnick, NWU, 337 17th St., Suite 101, Oakland, CA 94612, phone 510-839-0110, fax 510-839-6097, or e-mail to irvmuch[_at_]netcom.com.

    -0-                       3/4/96

    /CONTACT: Linda Little, 303-733-9330, or email: llittle[_at_]carl.org; Irv Muchnick, National Writers Union, 510-839-0110, or email: irvmuch[_at_]netcom.com/  

CO:  UnCover Company; National Writers Union
ST:  Colorado, California
IN:  PUB
SU:  PDT
 

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Copyright (c) 1996 PR Newswire
Received by NewsEDGE/LAN: 3/4/96 4:39 PM Received on Tue Mar 05 1996 - 00:02:11 GMT