Book Division meets at 2021 Delegate Assembly

The NWU Book Division, including Delegates and other NWU members interested in issues related to books, e-books, and audiobooks, met online on October 22, 2021, as part of the 2021 triennial NWU Delegate Assembly (“DA”). This was an important opportunity to assess what we’ve done, what we are doing, and what remains to be done […]

NWU Comments on Draft of “Digital Copyright Act of 2021”

The NWU has submitted comments regarding changes to the U.S. Copyright Act to Senators Patrick Leahy and Thom Tillis, who are the chair and ranking minority member respectively of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Intellectual Property. Our response addresses Tillis’ discussion draft of the proposed Digital Copyright Act of 2021. As we noted last year, […]

NWU Joins the Call to Block Further Monopolization of Book Publishing

The National Writers Union, Authors Guild, Sisters in Crime and several others organizations representing book authors—along with a leading anti-monopoly think tank—teamed up to send a joint letter to the Biden Administration. Together we urged the US Department of Justice’s Anti-Trust Division to block a proposal by the German conglomerate Bertelsmann to buy Simon & […]

What’s Ahead in 2021 from the Copyright Office and Congress?

Writers can expect further gains in U.S. Copyright Office procedures in 2021, but we may have a fight ahead in Congress to block yet another attempt to effectively revoke copyright protection for so-called “orphan works,” including those central to some NWU members’ and other writers’ livelihoods.

Saying Goodbye to Susan: Writer, Editor, Activist, Comrade

Susan E. Davis, a beloved National Writers Union (NWU) leader who championed a better world, died peacefully in her sleep on September 26. A month earlier she’d suffered a massive stroke in her Manhattan home. She gave generously to her NWU sisters and brothers by serving in a multitude of roles for upwards of two […]

NWU Wins Cheaper, Easier Copyright Registration for Online Writing

In response to a proposal initiated by the NWU almost four years ago, and later endorsed by nine other national organizations of writers, the U.S. Copyright Office today issued new regulations that will allow a writer to register copyright in up to 50 short-form works published on one or more websites or online platforms within […]

Publishers Sue the Internet Archive for Scanning Books

On June 1, four major US commercial publishers sued the Internet Archive for “willful mass infringement” of copyrights by scanning books and distributing copies on the OpenLibrary.org and Archive.org websites, without any permission from, or payment to, the publishers or authors of the works included in those books.

What is the Internet Archive doing with our books?

The NWU presented a public informational webinar on “What is the Internet Archive doing with our books?” on April 27 and May 5, 2020. The webinar explains “Controlled Digital Lending”, the “National Emergency Library”, and “One Web Page for Every Page of Every Book”: Video of webinar Slides from webinar Related articles: We Need Federal […]

NWU meets with Europeans on plans for “out-of-commerce” works

Representatives of the NWU, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), and the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) participated in a workshop on implementation of the provisions of the EU copyright directive for “out-of-commerce” works hosted by IFRRO in Brussels on February 23, 2020. IFRRO and IFJ were the only global organizations represented at the workshop, and […]