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Second Heather Robertson Settlement: Are You Eligible to Make a Claim? 

If you're a freelance author who wrote articles for any publications published by Toronto Star Newspapers Ltd., Rogers Publishers Limited or Canwest Publishing Inc., you may be eligible to make a claim under the second Heather Robertson settlement.

 

To see if you can make a settlement claim, please view the list of publications and publication dates that apply to this settlement. Your local library may also have access to databases that can assist in searching to see if any of your articles qualify under this settlement. Publications covered under the settlement include National Post Magazine, Saturday Night Magazine, Chatelaine and Maclean's.

 

If any of your works were in any of the publications and publication dates covered by this settlement, you may be eligible to make a settlement claim for each work, provided that none of the following circumstances apply to the work:

  • if you assigned the copyright of the work to another individual, you are no longer the copyright owner and cannot make a claim for the work;
  • if you granted one of the organizations included in the settlement a licence to use the work electronically, you cannot make a claim for that work, as the organization had permission to use your work electronically;
  • if you gave another individual a licence to use the work electronically who then gave a licence to one of the organizations included in the settlement, you cannot make a claim for that work, as the organization had permission to use your work electronically, or;
  • if the work was written while you were an employee of one of the organizations included in the settlement, you cannot make a claim for that work, as the organization most likely owns copyright in that work.

The deadline to submit a settlement claim is Saturday, October 15, 2011 at 5:00 p.m. EDT. For more information on making a claim and to access the settlement claim form, please click here.  

 

If your works are covered by this settlement and you wish to opt-out and not receive any compensation, please click here.

 

For more information on this settlement or if you have any questions about making a claim, please contact Duff & Phelps by email at [email protected] or by phone at 416-361-2590.

 

Background on the Second Heather Robertson Settlement

 

The second Heather Robertson settlement is in relation to a class action lawsuit launched on behalf of freelancers by Heather Robertson against Toronto Star Newspapers Ltd., Rogers Publishing Limited, CEDROM-SNi Inc., ProQuest and CanWest Publishing Limited.  

 

The lawsuit alleged that the copyright of freelance authors who wrote articles and other pieces in publications published by Toronto Star Newspapers Ltd., Rogers Publishing Limited or Canwest Publishing Inc. was infringed when these works were subsequently disseminated in online databases without obtaining permission.  

 

The settlement was approved on May 2, 2011 by Justice Carolyn Horkins of the Ontario Superior Court with a separate settlement being reached with CanWest Publishing Limited and approved by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice on June 16, 2010.

 

View the settlement approval notice in English

 

View the settlement approval notice in French  

Google Settlement Update

 

The long-simmering Google Books dispute is slated to go to trial in July 2012.

 

The trial schedule was set by Judge Denny Chin at a September 15 hearing with Google, the Authors Guild, the American Association of Publishers (AAP) and the five publisher plaintiffs, who provided a status update on negotiations to reach a new negotiated Google Books settlement. The previous settlement agreement was rejected by Judge Chin in March 2011.

 

The trial schedule leaves a window of about nine months for settlement discussions to continue with an aim to reach a new settlement agreement.  

 

All sides appear pleased after the hearing. AAP President Tom Allen was quoted as saying, "We'd like to resolve the issue reasonably promptly," while Authors Guild lawyer Michael Boni stated, "We'd like very much to continue a settlement dialogue with Google to settle the case."

 

Google spokesperson Gabriel Stricker told reporters, "We're encouraged by the progress we've made with publishers and believe we can reach an agreement that offers great benefits to users and rights holders alike."

 

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