Change of Venue For Plagiarism Lawsuit

by Christine Stuart | Feb 22, 2010 10:34pm
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Posted to: Courts, Legal, Media Matters

Earlier this month the Journal Inquirer of Manchester moved its plagiarism lawsuit against the Hartford Courant from state to federal court.

Chris Powell, the Journal Inquirer’s managing editor, said Monday that the Courant made a motion to dismiss the case claiming that the state court had no jurisdiction over copyright issues.

Instead of fighting the motion the Journal Inquirer’s lawyers decided to move the case to federal court, which has exclusive jurisdiction over copyright matters.

By making the move, Powell doesn’t believe it will have to drop the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices claim. Powell said the Journal Inquirer’s lawyers believe it’s still possible for it to argue the unfair trade practices claim, which was part of the state lawsuit in federal court as well.

The Hartford Courant declined to comment Monday on the change in venue.

The Journal Inquirer’s lawsuit alleges that the Hartford Courant used its competitor’s work to make up for the work formerly done by the Courant’s own reporting staff, which has been cut in half over the past two years. The Courant is accused of taking articles written by Journal Inquirer reporters and misattributing it as its own work.

The lawsuit says the Courant plagiarized at least 10 Journal Inquirer articles last year during the months of July, August, and September.

Click here to read the federal lawsuit filed on Feb. 9 and here for more background on the court battle between the two newspapers.

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