p2pnet news view P2P:- Canada’s Globe and Mail newspaper says its parent company, CTVglobemedia Inc, and Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd and The Gale Group Inc, will pay $11-million to settle a class action lawsuit brought against it freelancers and other contributors claiming they weren’t properly compensated for the electronic reproduction of their works.

The suit was launched by author Heather Robertson 13 years ago.

In 1995 she, “wrote several articles that were published in the Globe and Mail,” says the Wikipedia, going on »»»

Later, the newspaper stored copies of her articles on three databases, including Info Globe Online, an online database of Globe and Mail articles, as well as the Canadian Periodical Index. Heather Robertson found out about the databases and sued the Globe and Mail for unauthorized reproduction of her work.

The issue before the Court was whether the reproduction of Robertson’s articles were part of the Globe’s copyright in its newspaper or if the reproduction infringes Robertson’s copyright in her work.

“The overriding issues were clarified by the Supreme Court of Canada in a 2006 ruling, when the top court said reproductions that are faithful to the original publication – such as the entire pages that appear on a CD-ROM – do not qualify for extra payments,” says the Globe and Mail, adding:

“But Ms. Robertson continued to pursue her case for those whose work was resold on databases in a piecemeal text-only form – which the Supreme Court said was not within publishers’ reprint rights.

Robertson, 67, is quoted as saying the case, “has really made people aware of the importance of our intellectual property and of getting fair compensation for it”.

Stay tuned.

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Globe and Mail – Globe settles freelancers’ lawsuit, May 5, 2009