NEW YORK (AP) – Time Inc said yesterday it would comply with a court order to deliver the notes of a reporter threatened with jail in a probe of the leak of a CIA officer’s name. The New York Times, which is also involved in the dispute, said it was “deeply disappointed”.

US District Judge Thomas Hogan is threatening to jail Matthew Cooper, Time’s White House correspondent, and Judith Miller of the New York Times for contempt for refusing to disclose their sources. Time said it believed its cooperation would make Cooper’s jailing unnecessary.

The US Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear the reporters’ appeal and the grand jury investigating the leak expires in October. If jailed, the reporters would be freed at that time. Grand juries decide whether there is enough evidence for a case to go to trial.

In a statement, Time, which is a defendant in the case along with the two reporters, said it believes “the Supreme Court has limited press freedom in ways that will have a chilling effect on our work and that may damage the free flow of information that is so necessary in a democratic society.” ‘

But it also said that despite its concerns, it will turn over the records to the special counsel investigating the leak.