Remember the copyright lawsuit over the cover of Thomas Friedman's book, The World Is Flat? Well, you'll be happy to know that the suit has been settled.
"The litigation has been amicably resolved and the terms of the resolution are confidential," Rose von Perbandt told Editor and Publisher yesterday. She is the agent for artist Ed Miracle, whose painting had appeared on Friedman's bestseller.
Miracle's 1976 painting of two old-fashioned ships about to sail off the edge of a flat earth was a favorite of Friedman's, and the columnist had suggested to publisher Farrar, Straus and Giroux that it be used for his book.
FSG obtained permission from a firm called Paradise Cay to use Miracle's picture, but von Perbandt said Paradise Cay did not have the right to grant that permission.
When notified last year that Paradise Cay's right to sell the art was in question, FSG pulled the original cover and substituted a new one. But von Perbandt said at the time the suit was filed last fall that thousands of books with the original cover were still circulating around the U.S. and had been released abroad.
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Friedman, whose Op-Ed column is syndicated by the New York Times News Service, could not be immediately reached today. His assistant confirmed that the lawsuit had been settled, and said Friedman probably could not discuss the settlement because of its confidentiality.
Isn't it nice when lawsuits settle? One does wonder what FSG had to pay for the use of the purloined artwork.
Remember the copyright 
