P.M. BRIEFING : UPI-Reuters Deal Kept Alive

NEW YORK — A federal appeals court today preserved a picture-exchange contract between the United Press International and Reuters news services that Reuters sued to break.

Last week, U.S. District Judge Peter K. Leisure denied UPI’s request for a preliminary injunction that would have barred Reuters from ending the contract. But Judge John Newman of the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan granted a stay today, keeping the contract in effect until oral arguments are made, sometime during the week of April 16.

“The main issue is (that) the volume and quality of UPI pictures to Reuters has significantly declined and Reuters is entitled to break the contract,” Robert Sugarman, attorney for Reuters, told Newman.

The contract was struck in 1984 and called for UPI to supply British-based Reuters with pictures from the United States, while Reuters provided UPI with pictures from other countries. It was to run until 1995.