The high court in Johannesburg on Thursday ruled that Fin24 infringed copyright in only one of the seven articles that Moneyweb claimed its copyright had been breached in.
The court found that Moneyweb had not proven that four of the articles were original works. Two of the articles did not qualify for protection under copyright.
The court declared that only one article published by Fin24‚ entitled “Amplats CEO cites JSE rules”‚ constituted infringement of Moneyweb’s copyright.
The court also ordered that Moneyweb was liable to pay 70% of Fin24 costs‚ including the costs of two counsel.
Acting Judge Daniel Berger said the amount of damages to be paid by Fin24 on the one article would stand over for determination in a damages inquiry.
Moneyweb took Naspers’s Media24 to court last year over seven of its news reports that were aggregated by Media24’s business news website Fin24.
Moneyweb claimed in its affidavit last year that Fin24 infringed its copyright and this constituted unlawful competition.
Moneyweb claims in its court papers that Fin24 was guilty of “plagiarism on an industrial scale“.
Moneyweb argued when the case was heard that last year that this was a simple case: “Fin24 took substantial parts of the articles...and thereby infringed Moneyweb’s copyright”.
Fin24 argued that news reports taken primarily from press releases or what was said at press conferences did not enjoy copyright protection. — Tiso Black Star Group Digital
Court finds Fin24 did not infringe Monweb's copyright in six of seven articles
The court found that Moneyweb had not proven that four of the articles were original works. Two of the articles did not qualify for protection under copyright.
The court declared that only one article published by Fin24‚ entitled “Amplats CEO cites JSE rules”‚ constituted infringement of Moneyweb’s copyright.
The court also ordered that Moneyweb was liable to pay 70% of Fin24 costs‚ including the costs of two counsel.
Acting Judge Daniel Berger said the amount of damages to be paid by Fin24 on the one article would stand over for determination in a damages inquiry.
Moneyweb took Naspers’s Media24 to court last year over seven of its news reports that were aggregated by Media24’s business news website Fin24.
Moneyweb claimed in its affidavit last year that Fin24 infringed its copyright and this constituted unlawful competition.
Moneyweb claims in its court papers that Fin24 was guilty of “plagiarism on an industrial scale“.
Moneyweb argued when the case was heard that last year that this was a simple case: “Fin24 took substantial parts of the articles...and thereby infringed Moneyweb’s copyright”.
Fin24 argued that news reports taken primarily from press releases or what was said at press conferences did not enjoy copyright protection. — Tiso Black Star Group Digital
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