The unanimous ruling from the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals means that publishers must include electronic rights in contracts with freelance contributors and could be forced to compensate them for past work included in databases without their permission.

Reversing a lower court decision, the 2nd Circuit ruled for Jonathan Tasini, president of the National Writers Union, and several other writers and against companies that included The New York Times, Newsday, Time Inc. and several database providers.

For an explanation of how this could affect your contracts, check MDDC Hotlines attorney Alice Lucan’s Web site www.infi.net/~newslaw.