Isnt it amazing what a little dickering can do, when both parties actually have something to dicker with? -------------------- TIMES CO. AND AMAZON SETTLE A LEGAL DISPUTE Issue: Legal Issues Amazon and the New York Times have settled a dispute over the use NYTimes best seller list by the online bookseller. Amazon agreed to list the best-selling books in alphabetical order, post the lists after publication in the newspaper and include disclaimers that the NYTimes was not affiliated with Amazon. In turn, Amazon has agreed to continue providing weekly sales data to the newspaper. "They didn't threaten to withhold their data, but it was very clear to us that their data is of benefit to us," said Nancy Nielsen, a spokeswoman for the Times Company. "So when we made the settlement, it was written going forward that this was a quid pro quo." "The bottom line is that this is an agreement that benefits the book-reading public," said Bill Curry, a spokesman for Amazon. "You have a widely recognized list of best sellers on line so that people can readily know that these books are available at Amazon.com. And from The Times's perspective, the integrity of the best-seller list" will be maintained "because it will include sales data from the biggest seller of online books." [SOURCE: New York Times (C7), AUTHOR: Doreen Carvajal] (http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/08/biztech/articles/10times .html) === The Benton Foundation's Communications Policy and Practice (CPP) (www.benton.org/cpphome.html) Communications-related Headline Service is posted Monday through Friday. The Headlines are highlights of news articles summarized by staff at the Benton Foundation.
