Northern Light and full-text documents on the Web

[Joyce Ward]

I would like to correct a statement made in Web4Lib recently about Northern
Light, regarding copyright.

Contrary to what was stated in the posting, there is no litigation of any
kind filed against Northern Light.   

For those who are unaware of our service, Northern Light is a research
engine which combines a full web database (second only to Alta Vista in
size) with a Special Collection of full-text documents from major
publishers.  These documents are licensed from respected database sources,
such as UMI, IAC and Ethnic News Watch.  We price by the document, which
cost from $1 to $4.95.

Northern Light, like full-text providers many of you have used for years
(Lexis/Nexis, Dialog, etc.) licenses data from aggregators and publishers
who warrant to us that they have the right to license this material to us.
You will notice that our Special Collection documents give the copyright
holder (American Banker, etc.) at the bottom of the article. We pay a
royalty for every document we sell.  How Northern Light's royalty payment
is divided between the publisher and the writer is between that writer and
publisher.

If there are any Web4Lib subscribers who are hesitant to take advantage of
Northern Light's service because of questions about copyright, please write
to me directly and I'll have the right person at Northern Light respond to
your concerns.  

The bottom line is this: if you are willing to use Lexis/Nexis, Dow Jones
Interactive, or Dialog to purchase full-text documents, you need not
hesitate to use Northern Light.  We sell material from the same sources,
with the same careful attention to copyright compliance.




**********
Joyce Ward
Director, Content Classification
Northern Light Technology LLC
222 Third St.
Cambridge, MA 02142
E-mail: jward at nothernlight.com
Tel: 617-577-2778
Fax: 617-577-7446
http://www.nlsearch.com