US top court sides with publishers on $18 mln deal

WASHINGTON, March 2 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday overturned a ruling that threw out an $18 million settlement between publishers and freelance writers in a copyright case about work included in online databases.

The publishers had appealed to the high court in seeking to reinstate the settlement reached in 2005 after about four years of negotiations over writers' claims that their contracts did not allow for publication of their work electronically.

The publishers included Reed Elsevier (REL.L) (ELSN.AS), New York Times Co (NYT.N) , Thomson Reuters Corp (TRI.TO) (TRI.N), News Corp's (NWSA.O) Dow Jones & Co, and Knight Ridder, which was purchased by McClatchy Co (MNI.N) in 2006. (Reporting by James Vicini, Editing by Gerald E. McCormick)