Caxton’s online business news service Moneyweb is suing Fin24, the online business news service of Media24, for alleged copyright infringement, plagiarism and unlawful use of Moneyweb’s content, Beeld reported on Friday.
Moneyweb, a rival of Media24, has argued in court papers that Fin24 took its exclusive content unlawfully and offered it as its own.
Without permission, Fin24 published content that cost Moneyweb thousands of rands to generate “with just a few sentences that have been changed”, Moneyweb editor Ryk van Niekerk said.
Moneyweb alleged in court documents that Fin24 repeatedly and without proper recognition intercepted and published Moneyweb’s news content on its own website.
Moneyweb stated that:
— Fin24’s publishing of content allegedly written by Moneyweb journalists, was unlawful.
— The court should issue an interdict prohibiting Fin24 from using Moneyweb articles in this way.
— Fin24 should be liable for damages suffered by Moneyweb.
— Fin24 should be held liable for legal costs.
Van Niekerk contacted Fin24 editor Fadia Salie in March after he noticed that Fin24 was using copy from his news reports, according to the court documents.
Salie allegedly confessed to compiling one of the reports mentioned by Van Niekerk, but denied that the content had been stolen.
According to Van Niekerk, Jannie Momberg, News24 editor, refused to remove the content and told Moneyweb use of the information was not unlawful. — Sapa
