Arbitration & Mediation

How the "Big Kids" Settle IP Litigation at JD Supra

By Victoria Pynchon

SUMMARY [from JD SUPRA]: On December 22, 2008, GateHouse Media sued the New York Times, alleging that the "hyper-local" news aggregation pages on the New York Times-owned site Boston.com infringed its copyright and trademark rights. At the judge's order, the case proceeded on an extraordinarily expedited basis, with a bench trial set to begin on January 26, 2009. On the day prior to the start of trial, the parties settled.

The NYT agreed to remove all links created using GateHouse RSS feeds, and to refrain from using such feeds to create links to GateHouse content so long as GateHouse implemented commercially reasonable technological measures intended to prevent use such use.

The NYT did not agree to cease linking to GateHouse stories by other means (e.g. by typing in link text manually).

This is the settlement agreement.

Still, I'd prefer to see the parties draw up the complete agreement rather than use a letter agreement anticipating cooperation (when did that last happen) in negotiating the details for the final formal contract.  See the Devil in the Details here.

And if you're looking for forms to get you started try searching JD Supra but REMEMBER not to use anyone's form without making sure it satisfies your local legal standards.

Full post as published by Settle It Now Negotiation Blog on February 04, 2009 (boomark / email).