King's speech was given before 200,000 people assembled at the Lincoln Memorial during the historic March on Washington in August 1963. It became etched into the history of the civil rights movement and America's post-war epoch. Which is why, in 1993, the USA Today newspaper, as part of its comemorations of King's birth, published its entire contents, only to be sued by the King family for infringement of copyright. The paper paid $10,000 in an out-of-court settlement, plus a $1,700 fee for using the speech without permission.

Then CBS television included two-thirds of thespeech in a retrospective documentary series The Twentieth Century with Mike Wallace, a commercial video used in schools. ``It could hardly be left out,'' a producer said. The CBS contract had been signed with the producers of the video, Arts and Entertainment Network, and King's family duly sued again. What came to light was an attempt by King himself to restrict the circulation of his words. In September 1963, a month after the rally, the Civil Rights movement King helped to found, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, published the speech in its newsletter. King was clearly annoyed.

On September 30, he applied successfully for a copyright on the speech. He also won acourt injunction which blocked the sale of unauthorised recordings of the speech, which were circulating across the Black South.

It was on the basis of these decisions that the King family, led by King's son Dexter, contested the CBS broadcast as unlawful, filing a writ in Atlanta in December 1996.

Now Judge WilliamO'Kelley has at least settled the issue. In a 17-page verdict, he ruled that advance copies of the text had been circulated to news organisations on the day of its delivery, and that no copyright notice had appeared on that version. He added that the organisers of the march had ``courted publicity'' for King's words.

The King family's lawyer, Joseph Beck, said: ``We are studying the opinion and are likely to appeal.'' CBS News president, Andrew Hayward, said: ``We took on this case to protect the public's right to know. The decision means that Dr King's landmark speech is truly in the public domain, where it belongs. It's not CBS but the American public that won.'' That public now becomes the owner of King's words, which are themselves free at last.