The Supreme Court of the United States has declined leave to hear a case brought by authors against National Geographic. The authors claimed to be entitled to additional royalties as a result of the magazine's republication in CD-ROM format and online.

This case has significant repurcussions for authors and content publishers. Publishers are increasingly distributing content via a number of mediums: websites, email newsletters, RSS feeds, WAP data streams, podcasts -- what was once a single publication channel is now fragmented into combinations of the above. The Court's decision suggests that duplicated and resyndicated content will not require payment of additional royalties.

Originally by Ars Technica, 2:30 PM

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